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Saturday October 8th in Coeur d ‘Alene ID the Mustangs renewed their rivalry with their neighbor Region 18 opponent the North Idaho College Cardinals. WWCC and NIC have played each other every year of WWCC existence. The field condition in Couer d’ Alene was not ideal, as the area had received rain every day for a week. This was a rematch of a match about 3 weeks earlier when the Mustangs bested the Cardinals 4 -2 in Rock Springs. The Cardinals got on the board first as they scored in the 6th minute of play. The score was created when a NIC cross was sent in, ricocheted of the post and the NIC players bicycled kicked the ball into the net. The sloppy conditions lead to sloppy play as both teams were unable to get good locks at the goal and settled for bad passes and several players falling down on the pitch. The lone Cardinals score was the only score of the first half and the lead after 45 minutes of play was NIC 1 – WWCC 0.
The second half was better soccer from the Mustangs but the long bus rides of the week and the sloppy pitch made it hard for the Mustangs to show their true skills on the day. In the 52nd minute the Cardinals put the icing on the cake when they scored their second goal off of a nice long diagonal cross to a wing player who shot a high ball that just went over our keepers hand and just under the bar. The Mustangs were able to outshoot the Cardinals on the day but did not do a good job of breaking down the NIC defense and finding spaces in the corners or behind their back four. The final score was NIC 2 – WWCC 0. The loss brings the WWCC record down to 9 – 6 – 0.
Match Facts: Shots; WWCC 18, NIC 14 - Assists; WWCC 0, NIC 1 - Cards; WWCC 3, NIC 3 - Free Kicks; WWCC 10, NIC 8 - Keeper Saves; WWCC 9, NIC 5- Corners; WWCC 2, NIC 3
Mustang Man of the Match: Nate Sellis – Nate played a good match bringing energy and physicality to the match. Nate was also injured towards the end of the match trying to get a goal for his team.
Up Next for the Mustangs; Wednesday October 12th versus LCCC in Cheyenne WY (Region IX Match) at 1:30pm
