SUMMIT – In another display of their resilience, the Northwest Mississippi Community College men's soccer team (4-3-2, 2-0) picked up a huge road win over Southwest Mississippi Community College, taking down the Bears 3-2 to remain perfect at the start of MACCC action and pick up their first road victory of the season.
"Any time you can get three points on the road, much less six points in a week in this league, you definitely take it," Head Coach Windham Whatley said. "There is still stuff to work on; we gave up two easy goals so that will be our focus, but at the end of the day, you always take a week like this."
The Rangers opened the scoring early when a pass up the right side found Wesley Kilpatrick in space, and the sophomore was able to slip a shot past the Bears goalie to put Northwest on the board just over three minutes into the match.
"I felt like we have improved a lot and are proving we can score early," sophomore defender Leo Frank said. "We usually score within the first ten minutes so it's not really a surprise, whether it's home or away, but it's still really big, especially in a conference away game."
They would double the lead just six minutes later on a corner kick when a service to the far post from Joseph Jackson found Leo Frank, who would head the ball in for his first career goal and push the lead to 2-0 just 10 minutes into the match.
"Our coach always tells our corner kick taker to put it back post, and I was the guy that ran to the post and put it on frame and got one for the team," Frank said.
As was expected, Southwest fought back. The Bears found their first goal of the match on a free kick that was played in from just outside of the 18-yard box, beating TJay Gibb to the left side and closing the gap to 2-1 with 19 minutes left in the opening half. Another goal was added in the 40th minute when a corner kick found a Bear boot and was chipped to tie the match going into the half.
Needing to answer quickly out of the gate in the second half, the Rangers put the pressure on early. After a shot on goal in the 58th minute wasn't secured by the Bears goalie, Jairo Mendez was able to finish the job, returning the lead to Northwest with 40 minutes to play.
"We knew at halftime that we had to come out strong and get that second chance in the first five minutes of the half," he said. "It was really big for us and our momentum, and we carried it through the second half."
That final 40 minutes was a tense affair, with both sides having opportunities, but the physical play of the match denying either side.
Three yellow cards were handed out to the Rangers in the second half, and five total in the game, including back-to-back yellow cards given to Nile Hunt, forcing the Rangers to play the final ten minutes of the match down a man, but the defense held, and thanks to four saves by Gibb through the match, including three in the second half. One of those came on a scramble for a rebound in front of the net that resulted in a bullet from just outside of the 18.
The energy for the Rangers coming out of the half was a big part of the surge, and Whatley said he just reminded the team that energy at the start is what had given them the lead.
"During the halftime talk, we clarified what worked in the first 20 minutes when we scored two so we focused on going back to that and I think the boys took that seriously with pep in our step in the first 15 and we got the goal and they did a good job to hold a clean sheet in the second half."
With the win, the Rangers picked up their best start to the conference portion of their season since 2011 when they went 2-0 against Holmes Community College and Itawamba Community College. During that time, the conference was still divided between the North and the South. It also marks the first time the Rangers won a match in Summit since 2014 when they took down the Bears 2-1.
Northwest will have their work cut out for them in their next match with a battle against #4 Jones College (8-0-1, 2-0). Kickoff for that match is scheduled for 7 p.m. or after the conclusion of the women's game prior. The match will be streamed on Ranger TV.
"We've circled some games that we need to win," Whatley said. "Jones is a big game being number four, and we are going to attempt to win while managing our legs and managing moments."
You can follow along with Northwest soccer and all other athletics by visiting nwccrangers.com or by checking out Ranger social media accounts.
