By OAKLEE FIELDER
The Lady Ranger soccer season came to a close with two wins and a tie in their final three games, all to just barely miss the playoffs.
Northwestern faced off against Southern Nazarene on Wednesday, Southwestern Oklahoma State on Saturday and East Central University on Monday. The Lady Rangers defeated SNU and ECU, but tied to SWOSU 0-0. After it was all said and done, the Lady Rangers came up one point short of making the Great American Conference Championship tournament.
The game against Southern Nazarene started quick with a shot from Cambell Tabor in the 2nd minute. After some battling for offensive opportunities, the next shot came in the 11th minute from SNU. The teams traded shots midway through the first half as the action ramped up. Late into the half, the Lady Rangers had three shots from Madalyn Hundt, MacKenzie Hickman and Jazelle Alvarado, but none of the shots were on goal. As the half came to a close, Hundt and Alyssa Hotze gave shots, but they were both saved by the SNU goalkeeper.
In the second quarter, the Lady Rangers and Crimson Storm traded shots back and forth. None of the shots entered the back of the net until the 82nd minute. Cassidy Fitzgerald shot and scored to give the Lady Rangers a late lead. Quickly after the goal, SNU gave a shot but it missed the net, and the game ended with a Lady Ranger win.
NWOSU outshot SNU 14-13. The Lady Rangers had nine shots on goal and SNU only had three on goal. Taylor Annen completed the shutout and saved all three shots against her. Katy Jo Werner, Olivia Staton, Tabor, Hundt and Hickman each had two shots. Staton had the most shots on goal for NWOSU with two.
The game against SWOSU was an impressive showing from Annen. The Lady Ranger goalkeeper had 11 saves against the Bulldogs, stopping every shot that went against her. The Lady Rangers were heavily outshot by the Bulldogs 24-5. NWOSU had five shots against SWOSU’s 11. The Northwestern players that had shots were Alvarado, Werner, Jenna Mills, Kamalei Kealoha and Emma Yosten. Mills, Werner and Kealoha had the only shots on goal.
Annen faced four shots in the first two minutes of the game, immediately putting pressure on her. Luckily, she faced every shot and kept the Bulldogs scoreless, avenging the 4-0 loss against SWOSU on Homecoming in October.
The Lady Rangers took down East Central in a 1-0 win over the Tigers.
Northwestern piled on the pressure as the first half started. It took a second, but in the 9th minute, the Lady Rangers gave the first shot of the game. Werner shot towards the goal but it was saved by the ECU goaltender. Alvarado gave a shot in the 14th minute, which was saved as well. Kealoha and Yosten tried for a goal but both missed the net.
A few minutes after Yosten’s shot, Tabor scored the only goal of the game in the 28th minute to give Northwestern an early lead. Only two more shots occurred in the first half.
The second half was more offensive from the Tigers, as they had five shots. Luckily, none of them went in and any ball that had a chance of going in was stopped by Annen.
Werner had the most shots with three, all were on goal.
The Lady Rangers missed out on the GAC Championship tournament by one point. SNU had 19 points over Northwestern’s 18. Had the Lady Rangers won just one more game that they lost or tied, they would be in the tournament. If they won a game they lost, they would have two more points. If they won a game they tied, they would have 19 points with SNU, but Northwestern has a better overall record, which would put them in the tournament.
With the immediate early success in the season, 2026 may go down as a big “what if” for Northwestern soccer. Was the fall off because of the tough opponents, or was it something the team changed internally?