Plainswomen Pick Up Pair of Road Wins

The Northeastern Women's soccer team traveled to northern Wyoming for a pair of conference matchups looking to move back up in the conference standings.

Northeastern's first game was against Northwest College on Oct. 12. Both teams pressured the ball hard, and while the Trappers had a shot hit off the goalpost early, and had moments of possession in the Plainswomen half, they were not able to generate many dangerous scoring opportunities.

Northeastern was constantly threating on all counterattacks and struck in regular fashion throughout the game. The first came in the 18^th minute. Sophomore Kassidy Loertscher hit a long diagonal ball into the box that found fellow sophomore Kennedie Brumbelow, who settled and laced a shot past the goalkeeper.

Ten minutes later, freshman Yadira Ramos connected on her 10^th goal of the season, flicking in a cross from sophomore Emali Ortega. Several minutes later Ramos collided with Northwest's goalkeeper, which kept her from action the rest of the weekend. Freshman, Tatiana Rivera put in the Plainswomen's third goal in the 43^rd minute, as she collected a pass from fellow freshman Jaya Trujillo, pushed it past a defender, and fired a shot into the upper near corner of the goal.

Ortega put in the fourth goal of the contest as she found the space behind on a deep free-kick taken from sophomore Jordan Stoner. Freshman Fernanda Rios added another in the 73^rd minute, as she made a through run and got the ball from an early cross from Ortega on the flank. The Plainswomen ended the game with 19 shots on goal, a final score of 5-0 and freshman keeper Jacqueline Castillo picked up the win in the net.

In their second game against Central Wyoming College, the Plainswomen came out and put one past the keeper early, as Rivera received a ball in the attacking third from Ortega in the ninth minute. She beat two defenders with two quick, tight touches and knocked the ball into the far post from six-yards out.

Northeastern dominated ball possession for the remainder of the half and went into halftime with the 1-0 lead.  To start the second half, the Plainswomen focused on circulating the ball with more pace and continued to hold the ball for the majority of the half.  With the time of possession in the Plainswomen's favor, they were able to thwart any dangerous opportunities from the Rustlers.

The Plainswomen capitalized on Central's defensive tiredness in the 86^th minute, as freshman Jenna Vidal found a splitting through ball that put Ortega in on goal. Ortega drove the ball on the ground to the back corner of the net for her fifth goal of the season. The Plainswomen had 18 shots on target, while freshman goalkeeper Catalina Ulate was only forced to make three saves on the game.

Ulate picked up the win in the net, with the defensive play of sophomores Jodi Shea, Isabella Serena, Loertscher, and Brumbelow and freshman Adrianna Vargas the Plainswomen recorded their sixth shutout of the season for the 2-0 win.

The pair of wins moves the Plainswomen to 8-6 on the season and 5-4 in conference play. They are next in action on the road vs. Western Nebraska on Sat, 10/19 before returning home to play Colorado Northwestern on 10/21. The team is already a lock for the postseason, and a win vs their rivals on Saturday would guarantee them a top 4 finish in the conference, and a home game for the first round of Region IX playoffs.