It was a day of glory and defeat for both North Idaho College, seeded second in both, and Walla Walla CC, the third seeds, on the opening day of the NWAC postseason tournament. The women's sides for both programs advanced with shutout victories while the men were ousted in tight contests.
The NIC ladies rolled against an undermanned Green River side that wilted in the second half, 3-0, while the Warrior women slipped past second-seeded Tacoma, which was 11-3-0 in their division, with a 1-0 road win. On the men's side Walla Walla was knocked out via a shootout after a 1-1 draw at Tacoma while North Idaho was bounced on a second half goal by visiting Pierce.
Walla Walla was the lone three seed to advance in the women's tournament while Pierce and Edmonds advanced with road wins in the men's tourney.
Spokane, which swept the regular season titles and received byes, will take the pitch on Saturday versus second round winners with Lane visiting the women at 1:00 and Edmonds facing the men at 4:00.
NWAC PLAYOFFS - WOMEN ##############
(W3) Green River 0 :: 3 (E2) North Idaho (@ SFCC) - The Gators did well to keep the match scoreless through the first half, but the Cardinals quickly gained control against the visitors in the second half. Emily Aspden created the opening goal with a shot that was saved in the 49th minute, but the rebound popped to Monique Queen (Coeur d'Alene, ID) for the putaway. Aspden, though, would get her goal nine minutes later on a ball from Megan Lowery (Hayden, ID), who would go on to set up another in the 67th minute scored by Sterling Healy (Sandpoint, ID). Tiegan Horton (Dalton Gardens, ID) finished with four saves for the shutout.
(E3) Walla Walla 1 :: 0 (W2) Tacoma - The two sides were locked in a stalemate with Paige Kubista (Nampa, ID) finishing the contest with eight saves for the Warriors. With 12 minutes left Haley Berryman (Ephrata, WA) provided the deciding goal, her 20th goal in official play.
(S3) Southwest Oregon 0 :: 9 (N2) Everett - The Trojans led by two at the break with Claire Nelson finding Karin Heisen to break things open in the 34th and Danielle Baker scoring a minute before the intermission. Baker added a second four minutes into the second half and went on to finish with four total. Nelson scored the final goal after registering six total assists.
(N3) Shoreline 0 :: 4 (S2) Lane - After going scoreless for over an hour, the Titans went on a blitz in the final 21 minutes. Ally King set up the first two of three consecutive goals from Erin Riley in the 69th, 72nd and 78th as they rolled to the win.
NEXT ROUND ####
Saturday, November 5
(E2) North Idaho @ (S1) Clark TBD
(E3) Walla Walla @ (N1) Peninsula 12:00
(N2) Everett @ (W1) Highline 12:00
(S2) Lane @ (E1) CC Spokane 1:00
NWAC PLAYOFFS - MEN ##############
(W3) Pierce 1 :: 0 (E2) North Idaho (@SFCC) - The Cardinals and Raiders both had several close calls in the contest, but the match went into the second half scoreless before a low, long shot from Christian Guzman found its way through the defense and into the left corner of the goal in the 48th minute. It would stand as the winner for Pierce (4-7-1/6-9-2), which had the only losing record in the playoff field, with Konnor Sokalski making five saves to maintain the shutout. Garrett Boyce had six stops for NIC.
(E3) Walla Walla 1 :: [1-3 PK] :: 1 (W2) Tacoma - After a scoreless first half, the Warriors got on the board first when Missael Lopez (Tieton, WA) scored his ninth goal in official play in the 55th minute. The advantage only last five minutes, however, with Mackenzie Smith knotted things back up at the hour mark. Jorge Llerenas (Pasco, WA) finished with seven saves as the two sides remained deadlocked, but in the tiebreaker the Titans prevailed 3-1.
(S3) Portland 1 :: 4 (N2) Whatcom - The Panthers scored first on the road six minutes in, but it was all Orcas from there as they tied it up and took the lead within 10 minutes with back-to-back goals set up by Eric Jones. They added one more in the 38th for a two-goal margin at the break and capped it with another set up by Jones in the 57th.
(N3) Edmonds 2 :: OT :: 1 (S2) Clark - The Penguins took the lead a minute before intermission, but Mohamed Elmoghrbi equalized for the Tritons five minutes into the second half and scored the game-winning tally a minute into overtime.
NEXT ROUND ####
Saturday, November 5
(W3) Pierce @ (S1) Chemeketa 6:00
(W2) Tacoma @ (N1) Peninsula 2:00
(N2) Whatcom @ (W1) Highline 2:15
(N3) Edmonds @ (E1) CC Spokane 4:00
STATS ##############
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