SENATOBIA – The Northwest Mississippi Community College men's soccer team couldn't keep their unbeaten run alive on Friday night against National Park College, falling to the Nighthawks 4-0 in their final tune-up before beginning conference action despite a strong effort on both sides of the ball.

The game was a tale of two halves with the Rangers giving NPC all they could handle through the first 45 minutes. Though the stats didn't show the amount of opportunities NWCC had, the Rangers controlled the first 15 minutes and the final ten minutes despite only managing one shot on goal.

Northwest had multiple crossing chances make it through the box and a very active evening from Tendai Machingura and the defense kept the Nighthawks from being able to get any constant threat into the box on their offense, forcing the visitors to go over the top to get through the Ranger defense.

The second half seemed to start out with more of the same as Northwest came out swinging, bringing intensity and pushing numbers up to add pressure to National Park, but a counterattack in the 48^th minute led to an opening goal when a cross was finished to put NPC up 1-0.

Northwest didn't lose their energy after the goal, continuing their attacking pressure, but the physical back line for the Nighthawks began to show its wear on the Rangers and showed in the box score as fouls from both sides began to mount.

After only nine total fouls in the first half, the two sides combined for eight in the first 20 minutes of the second half and a yellow card to Alkali Jobe as the intensity led to more contact with each team trying to find separation.

The Rangers would see that change result in a second goal for NPC in the 64^th minute when a second chance cross into the box found it's way past Jacob Little to push the lead to 2-0 going into the mid-half water break.

Another shock happened just a few seconds later when an own goal resulted on a missed clearance attempt and gave the Nighthawks a 3-0 lead with just under 25 minutes to go.

Northwest didn't let the energy fade, pushing the tempo as they took more than double their shot attempts up to that point in the final 30 minutes of game play, but had trouble finding the frame as only three shots were on goal.

A second yellow against Northwest, this time against Little on a run through the box by an NPC attacker led to a penalty kick which the Nighthawks finished in the 86^th minute to push the score to 4-0 and close the game in a disappointing fashion.

Northwest did see a strong effort from Little who finished with 8 saves on 12 shots on goal but the offense only managed eight total shots in the match compared to 17 shots by the Nighthawks. The proof of the evenness of the match could be seen in the corner kicks taken, where NWCC had a 5-4 edge despite not being able to capitalize.

The loss drops the Rangers overall record to 2-2-2 as they get set to open their conference slate against East Mississippi Community College on Tuesday evening as part of a double header with the Ranger women.

Kickoff of the women's game is set for 5:00 pm with the men's game to follow at 7:00 pm. Games can be streamed at http://nwccranger.com/watch with coverage of the first match starting at 4:50. You can also follow along for updates on the Ranger Athletics social media accounts.