By Connor Gray, Senior Reporter
The Lady Rangers soccer team is coming off a rough stretch with a tie and a loss in the last two games.
Northwestern played to a 2-2 tie with Wayne State and suffered the first loss of the season to Fort Hays State.
Against Wayne State, the Lady Rangers stuck first with a goal from Abby Nunez, but gave up a goal seconds later to make the score 1-1.
Nearly 12 minutes later, Wayne State scored the next goal to put the Wildcats up 2-1 going into halftime.
The Lady Ranger defense responded by shutting Wayne State out in the second half, and Tiara Campbell found the back of the net to even the score at 2-2, which ended up being the final score of the game.
Coach Alex Piekarski said the NCAA made a rule change to get rid of the 20-minute overtime period. This rule change means that games end after 90 minutes during the regular season, while the postseason will not change.
“We felt we had momentum throughout the second half,” Piekarski said. “If we had that extra 20 minutes, we would’ve taken it.”
The rule affects all levels in college and could result in more ties for the Lady Rangers because they had three games go into overtime last season.
“We have to find more urgency in regulation to get the winning goal,” Piekarski said.
The team played Monday against Fort Hays, and both teams had a 2-0-1 record going into the game.
Fort Hays won, 1-0, as the Rangers offense struggled as the Tigers outshot the Lady Rangers, 17-6.
The Lady Ranger defense showed improvement in the second half, as players only allowed six shots versus 11 in the first half. But the offense continued to sputter by only putting up three shots on goal as the Tigers defense prevented several scoring opportunities.
The Lady Rangers will focus on Midwestern State University on Thursday in Wichita Falls, Texas, at 5 p.m. and will play New Mexico Highlands University in Las Vegas, New Mexico, Sunday at 11 a.m.