By DYLAN WHITELY, Student Reporter
Northwestern’s Lady Rangers soccer team has played its regular season in preparation for the Great American Conference postseason tournament.
The Lady Rangers finished last place in the Great American Conference after finishing its season with a record of 0 – 5 – 1.
Northwestern’s soccer season is normally in the fall semester, but it was played this semester after Great American Conference officials announced, in August 2020, the suspension of all sports until the spring semester.
The team will kick off the first round of the Great American Conference tournament on April 10. Great American Conference officials have not announced where the women’s soccer tournament will be played at, nor have they announced the final standings, as of press time.
The Lady Rangers will play the Tigers of Ouachita Baptist University, head coach Alex Piekarski said. This is his first post-season tournament with Northwestern.
Ouachita Baptist is ranked second in the Great American Conference after winning four games and losing two games in conference play.
Rachel Bailey, a sophomore on the soccer team, said she feel positive about playing Ouachita Baptist in the first round.
“I’m feeling very positive moving forward into this weekend,” Bailey said. “We’ve played this team before and in my opinion, it was one of the best games of the season.”
Bailey said the team has been able to boost each other up throughout the season.
“The team has been very good about lifting ourselves back up when we stumble this season,” Bailey said. “I feel like the positive attitudes from the coaches and girls will help us to keep pushing and working towards our goal of a GAC championship.”
Alissa Carlson, a junior on the team, was sidelined with an illness during the season. She said she is nervous about the upcoming game.
“I’m nervous because it’s my first game back in two months,” Carlson said. “It is also our team’s first tournament appearance.”
Carlson is optimistic about the upcoming tournament game.
“We have not won a game all season,” Carlson said. “But we came very close to beating this team and I think our mentality is going to be better going into this game.”
Carlson didn’t know what to expect for this uncertain season.
“I didn’t have very many expectations going in because we weren’t even sure if we were going to get to have a season or not,” Carlson said.
Bailey said she has high expectations for next season even with the team’s record in the 2020 – 2021 season.
“I think that if the team does what they need to do to prepare for the upcoming fall season, then we shouldn’t have any issues competing against our opponents,” Bailey said. “Though we have not had the season we hoped for, all of our games have been close. With some more outside work and time together, we will be able to be an even stronger program.”
The Great American Conference’s soccer championship tournament includes three rounds of play starting on April 10 and ending on April 17.
