The Northwest College women’s soccer team came up short Friday in Rock Springs in its first Region IX contest, falling to Western Wyoming Community College 2-1.

WESTERN WYOMING 2, NORTHWEST 1

Needing to get back on track with a win to open Region IX play, the Trappers (1-2-1 overall, 0-1 Region IX) took on the Mustangs (3-4-1 overall, 2-0 Region IX).

Western struck first, after a massive deflection in the box found its way just past the hands of the Trapper keeper and into the back of the net 12 minutes in.

Northwest had an immediate response, as Elli Lewis received a pass from Abby Derbyshire and rifled one past the keeper less than a minute later to tie the contest 1-1.

That scoreline remained the rest of the first half.

Western applied pressure early in the second half, and found its way into the lead just over eight minutes in.

A combination play at the edge of the box snuck past the Trapper defense and a shot hit the back of the net to give the Mustangs a 2-1 advantage.

“They’re a very direct team. They rely a lot on set pieces, a lot on transition,” coach Rob Hill said. “They didn’t break us down soccer-wise, but a lot of our mistakes they capitalized on. We were giving the ball away a lot, making bad decisions.”

Northwest could not find its way back into the contest, and things turned worse late when Trapper midfielder Brooke Travers received a red card with just eight minutes remaining in the game.

“I thought it was a harsh call, but it is what it is,” Hill said. 

The Mustangs outshot the Trappers and used a significant amount of corners to apply pressure to Northwest, as the Trappers struggle to find their footing early in the season.

“I thought it was one of our worst games … I felt like we were just lethargic,” Hill said. “We didn’t compete. We had one or two that were willing to go and compete, but overall, I just thought we were a little bit soft.”

COLORADO COMPETITION

Northwest will continue its early Region IX schedule, heading back on the road one last time before returning home next weekend.

The Trappers will head to southern Colorado, taking on Otero Junior College (0-3 overall, 0-1 Region IX) at 11 a.m. on Friday before taking on Trinidad State College (0-4 overall, 0-1 Region IX) at noon on Saturday.

“I hope we can bounce back,” Hill said. “Hopefully a better performance, because I just think that we were playing at 25-30% of our best that we could play (in Rock Springs) … Even if we raise our game by 25% it’ll be a massive increase on what we just did … I think we’ve got the players that can do it, it’s just whether they turn up mentally, and that’s the biggest thing is having them compete and having them have a little bit more fighting, competitive spirit.”