The Northwest College men’s soccer team split a pair of high-scoring road contests last week. Northwest lost to Casper College on a last minute penalty 4-3 on Friday, before rebounding against Gillette College and winning via a last minute Shota Akima goal 7-6 on Saturday.

CASPER COLLEGE 4, NORTHWEST 3

Kicking things off in Casper the Trappers (3-2-5 overall, 2-1-2 Region IX) matched up with the Thunderbirds (8-4-1 overall, 3-2 Region IX) as both teams sought a key win in region play.

Northwest had the first opportunity to score in the match, as a penalty kick was awarded following a foul in the box.

Unfortunately for the Trappers, the Thunderbird keeper guessed correctly and the game remained scoreless early.

“That was a tough one, a tough pill to swallow,” coach Rob Hill said.

Casper got on the board in the 10th minute, when a throw-in was not cleared and a Thunderbird struck it into the bottom corner to make it 1-0.

Less than 10 minutes later the Thunderbirds doubled their advantage and Northwest searched for answers down 2-0.

“Sloppy goals that we conceded, but we fought back from two down,” Hill said.

Northwest found that answer in the 25th minute when Shay Lonergan slotted home a through ball to make it 2-1.

Just before halftime a free kick stayed alive in the box, and was eventually put home by Lonergan once again to make it 2-2 at the break.

Despite multiple chances, it took until the 72nd minute for either team to find a breakthrough in the second half.

A well placed free kick was put past the Trapper keeper to make it 3-2 in favor of the hosts with little time remaining.

A few minutes later a long Trapper free kick into the box bounced around and was marked as an own goal and tied the contest 3-3 with 15 minutes left.

With just 90 seconds remaining a foul was called in the box on the Trappers, giving the Thunderbirds a chance to win it late.

“Unfortunately, a very dubious call by the referee with 90 seconds left,” Hill said. “I don’t want to say bad things about referees, but when it’s called one way for one team and another way for another, there’s a word for that, but we won’t go there.”

The shot was placed just past the outstretched hand of Harvey Bolland in the bottom left corner and Casper finished with the 4-3 win over Northwest.

“This team is very gritty,” Hill said. “We’ve done the 2-0 down thing I think six times now, and so it eventually catches up to you and it did against Casper … Ultimately we’ve got to win the game. We’ve got to perform. So we lost unfortunately, very gutting for the guys because they did fight and they did play hard. With 90 seconds left on the clock to get beat like that is just something that doesn’t sit well with us.”

NORTHWEST 7, GILLETTE COLLEGE 6

After the loss Friday, the Trappers turned their attention to the Pronghorns (4-7-1 overall, 1-4-1 Region IX) in Gillette on Saturday, with a high scoring affair in store for both teams.

Northwest started on the back foot, as Gillette scored three goals in the first 17 minutes to put the Trappers in a hole.

“You’d think going into the Gillette game that we’d probably have a little bit of bite about us, but we had to rest some players,” Hill said. “We are able to do that with a big squad … That was the plan all along. Unfortunately, some mistakes were made and we found ourselves 3-0 down.”

The Trappers started digging out of that hole with one goal in the first half, as Hugo Antonio Garcia Carbonell scored in the 22nd minute to make it 3-1 at the break.

A large change of the lineup in the second half paid dividends for the Trappers, starting with a Luc Haller goal in the 58th minute.

“I made nine changes, and it wasn’t because everyone was playing bad. I just felt that it was the right thing to do,” Hill said. “And it paid off.”

Shortly after Jake Coltart scored to tie the contest, and Akima scored to give Northwest the lead in the 62nd minute.

Gillette answered in the 72nd minute, but Northwest quickly regained the lead on a strike from Pedro Nunez in the 75th minute.

“It just became a game of scoring. [Basically] who could score next,” Hill said.

The Pronghorns tied it again in the 80th minute, but Northwest regained the lead once again through Nunez in the 85th to make it 6-5.

With just 90 seconds left in the game, Gillette found another equalizer. Akima scored the winning goal with 24 seconds left to end it 7-6.

Hill said Gillette had one more opportunity with 10 seconds left but Northwest held on for the win.

“I don’t know how they do it, but it’s just grit, character and determination,” Hill said. “I think we went three clean sheets on the bounce, and then in two back-to-back games we conceded 10 goals. It’s a funny game football, but we deserved the win.”

HOME SLATE ENDS YEAR

Northwest will remain at home for the rest of the season, starting with a contest at 3 p.m. on Saturday against Central Wyoming (3-4-1 overall, 3-2 Region IX), a team the Trappers defeated in September in a scrimmage 3-0 in Riverton.

“Both teams [men’s and women’s] are in good shape,” Hill said. “They’ve [Central] been tough all season. They’ve got a lot of internationals and they are also in the hunt. They’re in a similar position to us.”

The Trappers will then host Lamar Community College (0-8-1 overall, 0-4-1 Region IX) at 1 p.m. on Monday, making up for a contest that was postponed in early September due to poor field conditions in Colorado.

Northwest finishes the regular season against Western Nebraska Community College and Laramie Community College next Friday and Saturday Oct. 11-12, making it four games in eight days to end the season.

“We’ve got a bigger squad to rotate, and we can rest people and be okay,” Hill said.