Back home to take on a top 20 team, the Northwest College men’s soccer team earned a hard-fought 3-2 win over visiting Central Wyoming College on Saturday.

NORTHWEST 3, CENTRAL WYOMING 2

Riding high after a two game road sweep the Trappers (5-2 overall, 4-1 Region IX) took on the NJCAA No. 20-ranked Rustlers (6-3-2 overall, 2-2-1 Region IX).

Northwest started on the front foot, as Seia Sato was taken down by the Rustler keeper in the box on a failed clearance attempt and earned a penalty for the Trappers.

William Danaire stepped up and slotted the shot home, giving Northwest the lead 20 minutes into the game.

“I think we definitely deserved that goal,” Coach Rob Hill said.

That lead did not last long.

Central Wyoming quickly responded inside a couple minutes, as the Rustlers tucked the ball home near post on a low cross and made it 1-1.

“They responded quickly … It was very poor from us … Gave it right back to them and then we were beaten at the near post. Pretty poor goal to concede,” Hill said.

Northwest continued to attack the opposition net, and the pressure paid off up the left wing late in the half.

Hayden Vally found Kosuke Noritake running up the sideline, as Noritake carried it to the endline and squared it back to Josh Rabord in the box, who faked a shot and then put it in the side netting to make it 2-1 in the 39th minute.

“I thought that was a very fair result [at half]. Could have made it 3-1 with Julien [Landi], the keeper made an unbelievable save off the line,” Hill said.

Northwest held that lead going into the break, and extended it inside the first 15 minutes of the second half.

Another ball across ended up at the feet of Vally, who was tackled by a Rustler defender and earned another penalty for the Trappers.

Danaire stepped up once again and slotted it home to make it 3-1 in the 60th minute.

Central Wyoming responded late with a free kick that found its way home, but Northwest had chances to extend the lead, with Rabord hitting the post and Sora Taenaka missed a breakaway, but the Trappers settled with a 3-2 win to extend the win streak to four.

“We worked very hard on preparing against them, which we have done against every team. We knew who their key players were, we had a good game plan against them, and they changed a few things up that we adapted very quickly to,” Hill said. “I thought a fair result would have probably been five or six, but I’m not going to get greedy. I thought the guys were worthy of the win. Good performance, they’ve been professional. It was a hard game, probably the most physical, most aggressive game [yet].”

FINAL HOME GAMES

The Northwest College men remain at home for a pair of games this weekend, the final ones of the regular season.

“It’s so tight in this conference,” Hill said. “We’ve got to keep getting results. We’ve got to keep working hard … A good spot to be in, but we’re so far from the finish line.”

The Trappers start with a game against Western Nebraska Community College (6-2-3 overall, 2-1-1 Region IX) at 4 p.m. on Friday, a team the Trappers defeated 3-2 in the opening game of the season in Scottsbluff.

Northwest then takes on Laramie County Community College (2-1-3 overall, 2-1-2 Region IX) at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday in the final regular season home game for the men.

Currently the Trapper men sit atop the Region IX standings, but Hill knows they need to continue bringing their best effort every game from here on out.

“Nebraska will be very tough even though we beat them early on,” Hill said. “LCCC we haven’t seen their film yet, but they’re always tough to play regardless. When you are No. 1 you know everyone is going to be after you. Very tough weekend … We’re creating a lot of chances, but we’re not converting those chances … We’re conceding far too many goals. We’re the only team in the top six to be in double-figures for conceding, so we’ve got to do a better job defensively.”