By Connor Gray, Senior Reporter
The Lady Rangers’ soccer season is over, with the team having made it to its second straight postseason appearance.
The Lady Rangers played their last game of the season Thursday in Weatherford against Southwestern, which was the first seed of the four-team playoff.
The Ranger defense and goalkeeper Rachel Brown worked to keep the Bulldogs out of the net.
Brown saved five shots and allowed one in the first half, 36 minutes into the match, before Southwestern struck with the first goal of the game, finding the back of the net.
This kept the Bulldogs at 1-0 going into half time after Brown made multiple saves late in the half.
In the second half, the Rangers did not find the back of the net but did manage to get two shots on the Bulldogs. Brown saved an additional five shots from the Bulldogs in the second half.
Northwestern strung a couple chances together in the second half but were unable to take advantage. This kept the score at 1-0 until the final blow of the whistle as the Rangers dropped the conference playoff opener.
The Rangers’ third season under head coach Alex Piekarski has ended, with his team going 7-5-7 on the season.
“We’re disappointed to have lost in the first round,” Piekarski said. “But I don’t want it to diminish what we were able to do.”
Piekarski had seven seniors on the team, with five of them graduating.
“For some of them, I was their third coach,” Piekarski said. “I told them that I was proud of them and that they left the program in a better spot than where it was.”
Piekarski also talked about how proud he is of the team and how players continued to persevere despite the setbacks that have happened. Several received GAC honors this year.