The Northwest College men’s soccer team settled into an offensive groove over the weekend in Reno, Nevada, winning its first official contest of the year and competing in two exhibition matches.

The Trappers got things started on Friday, taking on hosts Truckee Meadows — a team that defeated Northwest twice last year.

Freshman forward Ricardo Farias da Silva got things started early for Northwest, scoring on a free kick from 20 yards out just under two minutes into the contest.

Northwest continued to press early and often, but had to wait until the 38th minute for a second goal when John Joe Mullane scored on a Harry Cullen assist to make it 2-0.

Alfonso Blancas scored the third goal in the 67th minute, and Farias da Silva capped off the scoring for Northwest in the 72nd minute to make it 4-0.

Truckee Meadows scored a late goal from 40 yards out to make the final score 4-1.

“All in all I felt good about their performance, it all came together,” Trapper soccer coach Rob Hill said. “Ricardo [Farias da Silva] had some big, strong moments and scored a good free kick.”

After the match against Truckee Meadows, the Trappers went into exhibition matches against Battleborn Football Club and Lake Tahoe Community College on Friday and Saturday.

Throughout the weekend Hill said that the Trappers were rotating around the entire team, giving him a good idea of each player’s potential in the squad moving forward.

“We were rotating the midfielders around all weekend and the level of competition was staying high,” Hill said.

He said that the team needs to work further on the mental aspect moving forward, learning to let decisions made by officials go easier, not allowing opponents to get into their head and just overall needing to become stronger mentally.

After the two exhibition games the Trappers finished the weekend 1-1-1 and scored nine goals over the three contests while conceding eight. Unfortunately, the Trappers walked away with some injuries to the team.

Despite going 1-1-1 the Trappers sit at 1-0 on the season, heading back on the road to Utah this weekend.

Northwest will match up against No. 12 ranked Snow College on Thursday at 3 p.m. in Ephraim, Utah.

The Trappers then move over to Price, Utah, to take on Colorado Northwestern Community College on Friday at 2 p.m. 

Finishing out the weekend, Northwest will take on Utah State University-Eastern on Saturday at 1 p.m. Utah State also received votes in the preseason NJCAA polls.

Hill said he knows this will be a tough test for the men’s program this weekend, as the Trappers wrap up early season play this weekend before starting conference play at home next Saturday.