Receiving a true early season test on the road the Northwest College men’s soccer team fell to a ranked opponent, as they fell to No. 16-ranked Salt Lake Community College 4-0 on Thursday.

SLCC 4, NORTHWEST 0

Hoping to learn plenty in the early season the Trappers (1-1) took on the Bruins (3-0) in Utah.

“The pace of play, the energy, the intensity that they had was probably three levels above what they were last year,” coach Rob Hill said of the Bruins.

Each team had shots and corners early in the contest, but the first goal went to the hosts.

A foul on the edge of the box led to a free kick for the Bruins, and a good shot went into the back of the net to make it 1-0 just under 34 minutes into the game.

“Absolutely brilliant free kick,” Hill said.

The second goal followed shortly before the halftime break, as a miscommunication at the back between the Trappers allowed  the Bruins to turn over the ball and find the back of the net just a minute before halftime.

“It was a Christmas present,” Hill said. “That was a silly mistake on our part.”

The third goal came 13 minutes into the second half, as the Trappers were unable to keep up with the constant rotation of the Bruins.

“As the game got further in, we started making subs. Their (Salt Lake’s) intensity remained the same, and if anything, it upped another level and we tended to drop off,” Hill said.

The final goal came with seven minutes left in the game, as a penalty kick conceded by the Trappers found the back of the net and finished the scoreline 4-0.

“Just a learning curve for us … I thought they were the better team, the better team deserved to win,” Hill said. “They are a very good side. I think that they will be in the hunt for their region, and they’ll do well in the postseason.”

The Trappers had three shots in the contest, two by Taylor Bridger and one by Shurei Yoshida.

Ruben Mijangos was credited with three saves in net for Northwest.

“I felt like we gave the ball away in key areas. So when we got in key areas, we gave the ball away very unnecessarily,” Hill said. “They were very good at critical defending. They blocked everything. They screened everything. We’d had a very good preseason up to that point, and then we met a very good team. I felt it was what we needed in order to prepare for conference. I’m glad we played the game. It sucks to lose, but I think we needed that loss to kind of reset the attitude.”

SHORT RESET

The Trappers now head into a small period of rest and preparation this week and next, with Hill noting that the loss has helped Northwest reset.

“We didn’t have a bad attitude, but we were kind of getting comfortable and it brought us back to how we were in the beginning, so it was probably a good loss for us in the end,” Hill said.

Northwest will not take the field again for a competitive match until next weekend, when the Trappers host their home openers for Region IX play.

Those matches will be against Trinidad State College and Otero College, as Hill said this loss will help them prepare better for those matches to get a strong start in Region IX play.

“Now that we’ve seen probably the highest level, or certainly one of the highest levels of play, I would say that it will now help us reset and refocus on the details of how we play against Trinidad,” Hill said. “How we want to play, how we want to press, how we want to build out, how we want to play in the final third. So we’ll really hone in on the details of those aspects, so that we can dictate play. We can actually set the tone of the game.”