SENATOBIA - A 1-1 tie midway through the first half was broken up by three straight goals from Meridian, as Northwest dropped a 4-1 loss on Tuesday evening.
The loss soured Sophomore Night for the Rangers, as Northwest ended its season at 4-11-4 overall and 2-8-1 in the MACCC. Meanwhile, Meridian improved to 9-6-3 on the season and 5-3-3 in conference play, securing the No. 6 seed in the NJCAA Region 23 Quarterfinals.
Jason Guerrero got the Eagles on the board in the ninth minute, before Northwest sophomore
Soren Voges-Haupt answered with the equalizer in the 18th minute. The deadlock lasted until the 30th minute, when Matty Longdon scored on a header from Diego Ayres Frietas' corner kick in the 30th minute.
Northwest remained within striking distance for the majority of the match, down by a 2-1 margin. That all changed in the 76th minute, as Calvin Jackson netted his fifth goal of the season, bringing Meridian to a 3-1 lead.
Brandon Brown all but sealed the victory for the Eagles in the 86th minute, scoring his second goal of the season.
Meridian outmatched Northwest in total shots, 17-6, while the Eagles had 14 shots on-goal. The Rangers finished with just one shot on-goal, coming from Voges-Haupt.
Jacob Little was credited with 10 saves for Northwest, bringing his season total to 170. The Hernando native already shattered the program's single-season saves record earlier in the year, and he now ranks second in career saves, trailing only Tim Spencer's 210 mark (2018-19).
A total of 28 fouls were called between the two teams, with 17 going against the Rangers. Six cautions and one ejection were issued as well, with Voges-Haupt picking up a yellow card in the 63rd minute and the penultimate red card in the 77th minute.
Other cautions were issued to
Sean Restrepo in the 26th minute,
Will Waltrip in the 31st minute and
Rodrigo Bandeira in the 59th minute. For Meridian, Guerrero was slapped with a yellow card in the 55th minute and Jackson was hit with one in the 85th minute.
Northwest head coach
Michael Sullivan concludes his third season with a 10-34-4 overall record. Earlier in the year, Sullivan moved ahead of Mark Hogan for third on the Rangers' all-time wins list. He now trails only Peter Jarjoura (65-89-9) and Charlie Baldwin (34-35-6) for career coaching victories.
