ST. LOUIS, MO – The #1 Northwest Mississippi Community College women's soccer team never trailed on their way to a 5-3 win over #5 Heartland Community College on Friday, moving to 4-0 on the year in non-conference play.

As has been typical for the 2025 version of the Rangers on the pitch, Northwest started off with the opening goal just five minutes in on a strike from Lena Scholze for her second goal of the year. Alli Kimbrell assisted on the shot for her first assist since the opening match of the season.

Both sides settled in for the next 25 minutes until the Rangers again found pay dirt with a Lara Stevens goal in the 30^th minute to extend the lead to 2-0 on Olivia Miller's first assist of her career.

That capped off the scoring in the first half despite both teams combining for 20 shots in the opening 45 minutes.

Emma Jensen added to the lead early in the second half as Caroline Perkins found the leading scorer on the team for her eighth goal of the season to extend the advantage to 3-0 in the 55^th minute.

Heartland answered back in the 65^th and 70^th minutes as the Rangers saw a surge from the Hawks tighten up the score to a one goal game at 3-2 on a pair of strikes from Valeria Agudelo but there was no panic from the defending national champions who answered back in the 75^th minute. Perkins turned a pass from Jensen into her first goal of the game to extend the lead back to two and Jensen added a second goal to her tally in the 80^th minute to all but close out the host team with a 5-2 score.

Heartland did add one more goal in the 85^th minute when a penalty kick gave one back, but it wasn't enough to change the scoring as the Rangers picked up their third win against a ranked opponent.

The two sides both had plenty of chances to strike with 38 total shots in the game, 23 of which came from Northwest. Ann Marie Barton allowed her first goals of the season but also made six saves in the win, playing all 90 minutes in net for NWCC.

The Rangers took nine corner kicks in the game.

There was one yellow card given out to Allie Kimbrell in the 25^th minute.

Northwest will continue their stay in St. Louis with a match against Mineral Area College on Sunday, September 7^th with kickoff scheduled for 1:00 pm. Follow along with NWCC Ranger soccer and all Ranger athletics on NWCC social media and nwccrangers.com.