Although most students have been back in school since the end of August, soccer has been practicing and competing before the rest of the student body arrived. With both teams already sporting a winning record, it’s looking like it will be a good season for the NW Men’s and Women’s soccer teams.
The Men’s season started off in an interesting way with a tournament down in the Carolinas where they played two matches. The first match was called off due to lightning, but they pulled off a 1-0 victory against Montreat. After returning home they tied their first match against Upper Iowa, setting their season record at 1-0-1. They bounced back by scoring 4 goals unopposed and winning against Bethel, but fell 0-2 against Graceland. Since the loss they’ve rattled off a couple more wins, with a 3-0 win over Avila, and a 3-1 victory against St. Mary. So far through the season, their leader in points is Bautista Marques with 6 points, followed by Jovany Kabongo with 5, plus Emerson Brazones, and Drew Darnold who both have 4. This puts their season record at 4-1-1, but their season is far from over.
Their 4-1-1 record gives them the second most wins in the GPAC, just behind Midland, who are 5-1-1. Their record of 4-2 places them behind Concordia who are 4-0-2, and Hastings who are 5-1-1. However their match with Concordia, is the first in the conference of the season for Northwestern.
The Women’s team didn’t start out the greatest when they lost to Bellevue 2-0, however they quickly bounced back by beating William Penn 2-0. They followed that victory with another victory at home, defeating Bethel 1-0. They lost to Graceland 1-2, bringing their record on the season down to .500. They then travelled to both Avila and Dakota State, winning both of those matches with a score of 3-1 and 3-2 resepectively. So far Aliza Edwards leads the team with 10 points, Olivia Regnerus and Marissa Talamantes both have 4, and Mya Cole has 3.
Overall, it looks like an exciting start for season so far. With 10 Men’s matches, and 11 Women’s matches left in the season, who knows where it could lead.
