By NICK VILLALOBOS
Staff Writer
The Northwestern Rangers women’s soccer team managed to overcome a difficult Northeastern State team and finally put a mark in the win column for the season.
The Rangers entered the night after a 2-1 loss to Tabor last Friday and a hard-fought battle with Wayne State Sunday, which ended with a 1-1 draw after a full 120 minutes.
The Rangers were desperately looking for a win after their first two games of the season and especially before the next three games, which will be away.
Fans who were in attendance at the Alva Sports Complex saw a tough battle between NSU and NWOSU. After a dropped save by the NSU goalie, Northwestern’s Leidiane Capobianco was able to capitalize and put the ball into the net for her first goal of the season.
When the whistle blew for the first half, Rangers had a 1-0 lead.
The Riverhawks were able to equalize at 1-1 in the 60th minute, sneaking a shot past Northwestern’s Goalie Briana Legaspi.
Legaspi finished the game with four saves out of the five shots that were on goal by Northeastern State.
After the equalizer, Rangers pressured hard and at the 73-minute mark the pressure paid off with a cross from Jessica Lynch to Capobianco, who was able to chip ball over the NSU goalie to put the Rangers up 2-1. The goal was Capobianco’s second goal of the game.
NSU applied an extensive amount of pressure late. The Rangers defense stood firm and in the 89th minute Ranger Ellen Trotter shut down the pressure and countered it with a goal of her own, lifting the Rangers 3-1 over the Riverhawks.
The Rangers finished with 18 shots, 10 of them on target, six corner kicks, eight fouls and two yellow cards, one on Kaitlyn O’Toole and the other on Kelsey Leveling.
Rangers Head coach Kasey Mahaffey was very pleased with her girl’s performance, saying, “My girls played today, finally, the way we are capable of playing.”
The Rangers play again Saturday at Oklahoma Christian University. Then continue on the road for two more games until they open conference play at home against East Central University September 25.