Box Score WICHITA, KS – The fireworks came early for the #3 Northwest Mississippi Community College women's soccer (19-1-1, 9-1-1) as they completed a sweep of their Pool B competition on Tuesday afternoon with a 2-0 win over #15 Iowa Lakes Community College (12-5-3), picking up a pair of goals from Caroline Perkins and Caroline Hamm while the defense held their line on the way to their first clean sheet of the national tournament.
"In a national tournament it's just important to survive and advance and that's what we did. Live to fight another day," Head Coach James Beattie said.
The Rangers didn't allow the same early momentum to the Lakers that Southern Union was able to garner in the opener as the Rangers picked up the first strike in the sixth minute when Perkins found the back of the net after a pass from Hamm set her up in space to put the defending national champs up 1-0.
Lightning struck again for Northwest in the eighth minute as Hamm found space in the box to finish a pass from Emma Jensen and doubled the lead.
"We said we wanted to get goals early because we wanted to rotate and we used every player on the team today," Beattie said. "I've said it before, teams win championships, not individuals and we need every single player available on Thursday."
Ann Marie Barton said the early goals did a good job in helping to relax the nerves of playing in a critical game with so much on the line.
"It helps with the nerves, because at first if they get one first, they can hold us but when we get two, three, four in, it really helps with confidence, and everyone gets more confidence going into the game," she said.
While the pressure never really dropped, Northwest wasn't able to score again in the half, putting 13 shots on the goal, half of which were on goals but five were saved by Holly Poole.
Meanwhile, on the other side, the Rangers defense was in a bend but down break mentality, holding Iowa Lakes to just seven total shots and double down on that in the second half, putting up a stout defense that only allowed one shot on goal and kept the ball on the attacking half of the field nearly the entire final 45 minutes.
Barton was strong in net, making several diving saves on the way to four in the match on the way to her third clean sheet in the postseason going back to the Region 23 playoffs and she said the defense knew it was on them at the start.
"Our big deal today was just trying to keep the ball out of the back of the net," Barton said. "All I did was talk to my teammates and make sure the ball was out of the back of the net. It got a little risky there at the end, but we were okay."
That produced another 13 shots for Northwest, but the Rangers couldn't turn that into any more goals, seeing an impressive seven saves made by the Lakers, with multiple coming from their defense who were able to deflect them away, forcing the Rangers to settle for nine corner kicks in the second half.
It was a physical game, particularly late, and four yellow cards and one red card were handed out. Three yellows went to Iowa Lakes as Olivia Parker picked up one and Chanell Makusu had two, which resulted in a red card in the 89th minute. Mary Logan Clark had a yellow card given to her in the 49th minute for the Rangers.
The game still ended with Northwest coming away with the all-important win and booking a ticket into the NJCAA Division II semifinals for the fourth consecutive season.
Up next, the Rangers will take on a familiar foe in #7 Jones College, who upset #1 Johnson County Community College in Pool A after entering the tournament as the eight seed. The Bobcats rode an impressive performance from Shirley King, who had four goals in the match on the way to the 4-3 overtime win.
Beattie said it was important to stay focused on what's next with a difficult team in the semifinals.
"We need to recover and look at the film from today and look at the film from Jones and their game against Johnson County and then just put the best foot forward for Thursday."
On the other side of the bracket, Mississippi will also be represented after #2 Holmes Community College took down #5 Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College 1-0 in Pool D. The Bulldogs will face off with #4 Heartland Community College who defeated Pima Community College in Pool C 2-0.
No matter who comes out of the other semifinal, if the Rangers advance to the National Championship game, they will have had one match against their opponent, having fallen to Holmes 2-1 in MACCC play and picking up a win over Heartland 5-3 on the opening weekend of the season.
""I think we just need to focus," Barton said of their next steps to get ready for the semifinals. "We aren't playing to our best ability, but I know we can, and I feel like if we can get some talking done and just watch film, I think we can do it again."
Beattie said that the tough matches going into the semifinals should help keep the team ready, much like it did during last season's championship run.
"It's kind of similar to last year," he said. "We had two really intense pool play games and then when we went into the semi and the final, we turned it on and hopefully we do the same this Thursday."
Keep up with Northwest news and updates from the NJCAA National Tournament by visiting nwccrangers.com or by following along with Ranger social media accounts.
