SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College (4-8-1, 1-6) men struggled to get their offense going in the first half against Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College (8-5, 4-3) on the way to a 5-1 loss at the Ranger Soccer Complex on Friday night.
Northwest did a good job of matching the Bulldogs energy in the first half and brought a strong attack against them to earn some early looks on goal, out shooting the Gulf Coast offense 3-1 in the first 15 minutes, but it was the visitors who broke through first in the 18th minute when Tobias Buch found some space to get past Jacob Little and put the Rangers behind 1-0.
Another goal from Trey Roche in the 29th minute doubled the lead thanks to a slow building attack from MGCCC that started to wear down the Ranger defense and the match went into the half with Rangers trailing 2-0.
The energy returned for the Rangers in the second half, once again taking more shots early on than the Bulldogs could manage, but playing with a lead allowed for Gulf Coast to pack their back line with defenders and they found opportunities to counterattack against Northwest.
Two more goals would follow as a result in the 58th and 78th minutes to make it a 4-0 game.
Northwest wouldn't be shutout though, picking up a goal in the 87th minute when Chase Michael found a seam and was able to finish to close the gap and keep the Rangers streak of games scoring at least one goal in alive.
Gulf Coast did answer one more time on a late surge against the energized Rangers who got caught with too many men forward, giving up an 89th minute goal to seal the match at 5-1.
The loss drops Northwest to 1-6 in conference action with only four matches remaining. The end of the schedule does feature several important games if the Rangers are going to make the postseason field with Holmes Community College up next on Tuesday afternoon, who enter the match at 0-6-1 in conference play, and matches against Southwest Mississippi (5-6-1, 2-4-1) and Copiah-Lincoln Community College (5-3-2, 3-2-2) remaining.
The full schedule for the Rangers can be found at nwccrangers.com and you can follow along with Ranger athletics on social media.
