SENATOBIA – After an afternoon gathering to celebrate the sophomores who have built an incredible legacy at Northwest Mississippi Community College (13-1-1, 8-1-1), the #3 Rangers used a burst of offense in the first half to take down the Southwest Mississippi Community College Bears (6-6-3, 2-6-2) 4-1 on Friday night.

"Obviously that class has done a lot for us and we got the win. That's all that matters," Head Coach James Beattie said. "It's just a matter of trying to keep teams out of the game and if we are on it going forward, we are going to cause problems."

The Rangers withstood an early push from SMCC before taking control of the pace and tempo, eventually breaking through on rebounded shot by Caroline Hamm after a header by Allison Carroll was deflected away by Addison Champagne in the 12^th minute to put NWCC up.

Just three minutes later, Emma Jensen picked up her second goal of the week after a pass from Allie Sifford opened the Ranger sophomore to finish one and double the lead.

It only took three more minutes before Jensen was back to work with Caroline Perkins, finding the freshman who finished her second goal of the week to put the Rangers up 3-0 in the 18^th minute.

The Bears were able to resettle themselves on defense and despite allowed 17 total shots in the first half, they were able to keep the Rangers at bay, going into the break at the same score.

In the second half, Northwest continued their barrage on goal, putting the majority of their 18 shots in the half on goal, but couldn't find their way past Champagne who played strong in net, and even saw her offense close the gap on a quick strike to the net when Nicole Galvan broke through to cut the lead to 3-1 in the 58^th minute.

That was the last time Southwest would crack through, and the Rangers got the goal back 12 minutes later in the 70^th minute when Molly Thompson dribbled her way into the box to push the lead back to 4-1.

Southwest did have a chance late in the match to get back into the game when a penalty kick was awarded but Ann Marie Barton made a diving save to her left to keep the ball out of the net and the game wrapped up with the score still at 4-1.

Northwest took 35 total shots including eleven different players putting a shot on goal in the match and had ten corner kicks as they showed their ability to keep the ball in the defender's half throughout the match.

"It's just a matter of can we put more points on with the amount of shots that we have," Beattie said. "It's paramount that if we are going to have success multiple people have to step up in the season. Having multiple players that can score is always an advantage we can take."

The win sets up a chance for Northwest to secure the #2 seed in the upcoming MACCC playoffs with a key match against Copiah-Lincoln Community College on Tuesday evening from Wesson where kickoff is scheduled for 5:00 pm.

Streaming information can be found at nwccrangers.com and you can keep up with all Ranger news and information by following Ranger social media accounts.