Cardinals' hopes gone with the wind

| November 2, 2013 9:00 PM

* WOMEN'S SOCCER

CHEYENNE, Wyo. - The North Idaho College women's soccer team saw its season come to an end with a 3-0 loss to Otero Junior College of La Junta, Colo., on Friday in the semifinals of the NJCAA District C tournament.

Otero, which did all its scoring in the final 31 minutes, will play Laramie County Community College in the District C final today at 1 p.m. PDT. The winner advances to the NJCAA tournament.

NIC finished 7-8-1.

"It was a disappointing loss for us," NIC coach Dan Hogan said. "We worked extra hard to qualify for the tournament this year and then played below our best today. We'll be losing 14 players from this year's squad who suffered through numerous injuries."

Brittney Lacek had two assists for Otero, one on a corner kick, the other on a free kick from 35 yards out. The final goal was a shot from 40 yards out by Dawn Reachard that got carried by the wind over the hands of NIC keeper Alex Rodriguez and into the goal.

"Very windy, 25-30 mph and they took better advantage of the wind in the second half than we did in the first half," Hogan said. "I think OJC only had 4 shots in the first half."

First half - none. Second half - 1, OJC, McKenna Schmitt (Brittney Lacek), 59:00. 2, OJC, Darian Drake (Lacek), 84:00. 3, OJC, Dawn Reachard (unassisted), 85:00.

Shots on goal - NIC 3, OJC 21.

Saves - NIC, Alex Rodriguez 2, Whittni Mundel 3; OJC, Sam McCurley 1.

* VOLLEYBALL

North Idaho d.

Southern Idaho

COEUR d'ALENE - Leeta Grap had 11 kills and 11 digs as the 16th-ranked Cardinals defeated the eighth-ranked Golden Eagles 25-20, 25-22, 25-19 in the Scenic West Athletic Conference finale for both schools at Christianson Gym.

"It was a pretty nice win," first-year NIC coach Miles Kydd said. "We served really well tonight and limited our errors because we really had to."

With the win, NIC (14-10, 6-4 SWAC) will be the No. 3 seed to the Region 18 tournament and face No. 6 Colorado Northwestern (3-25, 0-9) next Friday in the opening round, with the winner facing No. 2 seed CSI (20-9, 7-3) in the semifinals for a guaranteed berth to the NJCAA tournament.

In other SWAC play, Salt Lake (21-6, 9-0) clinched the conference title by sweeping Colorado Northwestern.

Allison Meehan had 13 digs and 29 assists, Russia Robinson 11 digs for NIC.

"I thought it was the best I've seen Russia play all year, Allison too," Kydd said. "Those two were pretty amazing tonight and we played really well as a group."

Mercades Vaughn had 10 kills for CSI.