SENATOBIA - The Northwest Mississippi Community College women's soccer team (14-3, 8-3) moved on to the Gulf South District Tournament semifinals after a 4-1 victory over Meridian Community College (8-9-2, 5-6) at the Ranger Soccer Complex.
"There were really good moments, moments where we can improve, but ultimately, it's survive and advance," Head Coach James Beattie said. "We asked them before the game to do it, and they did it. That's all we can ask for."
From the beginning of the game, the Eagles seemed to be content to play in their defensive half and let the Rangers maintain possession of the ball. However, just three minutes into the game, sophomore Olivia Miller found the back of the net after an incredible shot from outside of the box.
The Northwest goal seemed to further motivate Meridian to sit in a low block defensively, and MCC's defensive structure succeeded. Although the Rangers outshot the Eagles 15-4 in the first half, most of the shots were directly to Meridian's goalkeeper, and NWCC did not score another goal before halftime.
At the beginning of the second half, the Eagles once again came out with the same defensive mindset, waiting for a moment of brilliance from a teammate or a mistake from a Ranger. Both of those things came in the 53rd minute when Emilia Reinhardt capitalized on a mistake from the Northwest goalkeeper, Lydia Knabb, and chipped the ball into the net from around 30 yards away from the goal, tying the game 1-1.
The win or go home nature of the postseason makes every big play feel more important, and Ranger fans could definitely feel the tension in the air after the Eagles' goal.
Sophomore defender Lena Scholze quickly eased the tension when she scored the go-ahead goal, and eventual game winner, off of a Miller corner kick in the 62nd minute.
After Scholze's goal, it finally felt like the Rangers could breathe. The released tension allowed NWCC to play more freely in the attack, and just five minutes later, in the 67th minute, sophomore Hayden Moneymaker extended the Northwest lead to two goals after putting away McKenzi Rankins' cross.
The fourth and final goal for Northwest came when Kami Vega rifled the ball into the back of the net from outside the box in the 74th minute.
"The most important thing was that today it was kill or be killed," Scholze said. "It could have been done today. We needed to come back"
The Rangers dominated on both sides of the field. The team outshot the Eagles 31-6 and only called on Knabb to make a save one time. The Rangers also took 10 corner kicks and did not allow Meridian to take a single one.
The Rangers know that every win is crucial now if they want their season to continue, and the team wants to keep their journey going.
"We all want it," Scholze said. "It's not like we're here and the team already won two national championships, we want to get the third one. We want to keep going. We don't want to be done now. We want to make the school proud."
Northwest will now travel on Wednesday, November 4 to Poplarville to take on #3 Pearl River Community College (14-2, 10-1) in the semifinals of the Gulf South District Tournament at 4:30 p.m. at the PRCC Soccer Complex.
"Every game is at risk of being your last game," Beattie said. "We need to keep going every game like it's our last and give absolutely everything to see where we end up."
To stay up to date on the NWCC women's soccer team, follow the Ranger social media accounts or go to nwccrangers.com.
