Postseason play for Region IX soccer kicked off last weekend as the Northwest College women’s soccer team traveled to Cheyenne to take on Laramie County Community College. The Trappers ran into a buzzsaw, as their season ended at the hands of the Golden Eagles, 7-0.

Starting off the match, the Trappers (7-8-1 overall, 4-4 Region IX) conceded a goal in the eighth minute, after a shot from LCCC’s Sophie Osman hit the crossbar and bounced directly down. The officials discussed the scenario, and determined the ball crossed the line, making the score 1-0.

“I do not think that the ball crossed the line, but we do not have VAR [video assistant referee] at this level and the official was not going to change his mind, so what can we do,” Trapper coach Rob Hill said.

The Golden Eagles (13-2-2 overall, 5-2-1 Region IX) continued to pepper shots at Trapper keeper Alexa Williams. LCCC broke through just a half-hour into the match off a cross to the weak side, where Golden Eagles outnumbered Northwest on the backside, and LCCC’s Jenaya Brown tapped the ball in to make it 2-0.

LCCC added a third goal seven minutes before the half on a similar play, with Erika Scivally finishing the shot and putting the Golden Eagles in control at halftime, 3-0.

Starting the second half, Hill decided to make some changes and threw another player up top as he knew the Trappers needed to find a goal and fast if they wanted to get back into the match. The NWC coach said they came out better in the second half, but just were never able to find any shots towards the net, managing only four shots the entire match.

Once he realized there was no chance the Trappers were going to find a way fully back into the match, Hill said he put in some players that he felt should get some playing time to end the year.

The Trappers conceded an additional four goals in the last 10 minutes, to make the final score 7-0.

“The scoreline at the end did not reflect the overall performance of the match,” Hill said.

With the season coming to a close, Hill said he will be looking for his next moves to help this team make the next jump in 2022.

With only five rostered sophomores this year, Hill anticipates getting the unique opportunity of having most of his team back next year. Throughout the season, the coach felt the Trappers struggled to compete with the more physical teams, and their inability to compete with those teams came primarily from a lack of experience at the college level.

“If we bring in six or seven freshmen that will contribute, you will see competitive play from this team next year,” Hill said.

He has already begun the recruiting process for next year, and is hoping to have some players sign either in the coming month or during national signing in February.

The team will now begin offseason workouts, including lifting/conditioning and indoor futsal.

The women will have four scrimmage dates in the spring semester, with those dates not yet announced.