{gallery}09_30_10/nwcsoccer{/gallery}Northwest midfielder Emmanuel Elicerio makes a play on the ball in front of a Western Wyoming defender during second-half action in the Trappers 3-1 Region IX victory on Tuesday. Tribune photo by Randal Horobik Trappers' 3-1 victory over WWCC keeps team in title hunt Leonardo Medeiros scored twice within a 90-second span of the first half on Tuesday as the Northwest College Trappers defeated Western Wyoming by a 3-1 final count. The victory keeps Northwest College very much alive in the hunt for a Region IX men's soccer title in their inaugural season. Medeiros' outburst came late in the first half as the Belo, Horizonte, Brazil, freshman twice received end-line passes to blast the ball past the keeper for scores. The goals gave Northwest College a 2-0 lead at intermission after the Trappers had managed only a draw in their earlier game against the Mustangs this season.

Cody sophomore Gavin LaFollette added a second-half goal, taking a short pass in the box and firing the ball home for a 3-0 lead. Multiple Western Wyoming defenders appeared to ease up on the play, believing LaFollette to be offsides. Both the head official and the linesman saw it differently, however, and LaFollette added another tally to his team-leading goal total.

Western's lone goal came immediately following LaFollette's shot. On the ensuing kick to start play, Western lobbed the ball at the Trappers' goal, where NWC keeper Nick Warren was staring directly into a setting western sun. The Mustangs had unsuccessfully tried the same trick to open second-half play, but this time were rewarded as Warren momentarily lost the ball in the glare and was unable to react in time to keep it out of the net.

The Trappers limited Western to very few offensive chances from that point forward as Northwest College's victory was never in any significant danger. Despite the win, Trapper head coach Rob Hill wasn't in a celebratory mood after the contest and suggested his players might not be either.

“To be honest, I thought it was one of our worst games of the year,” Hill said of his team's sixth victory. “We just seemed very slow and out of rhythm. It is nice to get the win, but I don't think this is a game our guys are going to be especially proud of.”

The victory did extend the Trappers' win streak to four games as the team improved to 6-1-2 for the season. Also included in that streak were road victories of 4-1 over North Idaho and 5-1 over the University of Idaho men's club team this past weekend.

Perhaps more importantly, the victory improves Northwest College to 2-0-2 in Region IX play. The Trappers currently sit in third place in the five-team region, half a game behind Otero College and a full game in back of Laramie County Community College. The Trappers will travel to LCCC in October for that school's final Region IX contest of the season. Northwest also has a home-and-away series yet to be played against Otero to very much control its own destiny.

“One thing we need to improve on is giving up goals,” said Hill. “We're surrendering lone goals in games where we should be coming away with shutouts. That's something that we'll have to rectify, because it shouldn't be happening this late in the year.”

The Trappers return to action on Wednesday. The squad hosts Western Nebraska in a Region IX contest. The two teams played to a wild 6-4 Trapper victory earlier this year in Scottsbluff.