By DACODA MCDOWELL-WAHPEKECHE, Sports Editor
Northwestern’s soccer team played in the first round of the Great American Conference on Saturday.
The team finished with an 0 – 5 – 2 record on the year after losing because of penalty kicks in the first round of the Great American Conference soccer championship tournament against Ouachita Baptist University on April 10 in Arkadelphia, Arkansas.
“Playing a spring season presented some unique challenges for us, but we were grateful for the opportunity,” head coach Alex Piekarski said. “We would have liked to have had a better record, but we were happy our growth throughout the season.”
Going into the postseason, Northwestern finished in last place after not winning a single game, losing five games and tying in one. In the Lady Rangers’ first round match-up, Ouachita finished in second place following Oklahoma Baptist University.
The Lady Rangers finished in a draw in the conference tournament game against the Tigers.
In the first 45 minutes of the game, Northwestern got one shot off.
Ouachita kicked the ball toward the goal 12 times, but Northwestern’s Reyna Gonzalez blocked four of the shots, meaning the other eight were off the mark.
Northwestern kicked the ball towards Ouachita’s goalie more in the second half. The Lady Rangers took five shots in the second half, but three of them were blocked by the Ouachita goalie.
The two teams would compete in two overtime periods after no goals went in for the Lady Rangers or the Tigers.
It was a stalemate during the two overtime periods, with no goals being scored in the overtime periods. The teams went into penalty kicks to determine who would compete in the second round of the tournament.
Kailani Kealoha and Rachel Bailey scored two goals during the penalty kick period.
Ouachita made four penalty kicks, giving them the win and letting them advance to the next round.
Bailey said she was staying optimistic and was excited to be a part of the team this year.
“My favorite part of the season was getting to watch the team grow in such a short period of time,” Bailey said. “With our season getting moved to the spring and the addition of new coaches and players, it was interesting and exciting to be a part of the creation of the team we are today.”