Cardinal soccer teams fall in district semifinals

* WOMEN'S SOCCER

Laramie County CC 2

North Idaho 1

POWELL, Wyo. - A wind-aided goal by Laramie County Community College of Cheyenne, Wyo., ranked 10th in the NJCAA, helped bring the Cardinals' season to an end in the semifinals of the District B tournament at Northwest College.

"Overall, it was probably a fair result," NIC coach Dan Hogan said. "I'm not going to fault them, they played well - played a little better than us.

"It was kind of a tail of the wind," Hogan added. "We had the wind with us the first half, so we probably had more of the play."

NIC scored in the third minute when Callie Martin sent a cross from the right of the goal. Ellie Engle came across the goal mouth from the left side and, from about 4 yards out, beat the keeper to the ball and headed it inside the near post.

Later in the half, Taylor Hockley of LCCC sent a left-footed cross from the left of the goal. NIC's keeper came off the line, thinking the wind would take the ball away from the goal. But the ball was mis-hit, and actually curved left into the goal.

Laramie County (12-2-0) plays Otero Community College (15-1-0) of La Junta, Colo., today in the championship game for a trip to nationals in Melbourne, Fla.

NIC finished 9-4-2.

First half - 1, NIC, Ellie Engel (Callie Martin), 3:00. 2, LCCC, Taylor Hockley (Eri Unai), 28:00. Second half - 3, LCCC, Vahimara Fantauzzi (unassisted), 59:00.

Shots on goal - NIC 12, LCCC 20.

Saves - NIC, Hannah Slinkard 10; LCCC, Missy Schultz 5.

* MEN'S SOCCER

Western Wyoming 3

North Idaho 1

ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. - Greg Howard scored two first-half goals for the Mustangs in a semifinal win over the Cardinals in the West District championships on the campus of Western Wyoming.

"They're a good finishing team," NIC coach Ken Thompson said. "We made three bad errors in the first half. When a team capitalizes three or four times on mistakes, they're tough to deal with. Our passing was really good, but at the end of the field, we need to have the guys that put the chances away."

Freshman Lucas Zirotti of Lake City High scored on an assist from John Ray in the 65th minute for NIC, which finishes 6-7-3.

Western Wyoming will face Northwest College of Powell, which defeated Yavapai 4-2 in the other semifinal today in the championship match. Both teams will advance to the NJCAA tournament.

First half - 1, WW, Greg Howard (unassisted), 12:00. 2, WW, Jarom Stuart (unassisted), 26:00. 3, WW, Howard (Taylor Egbert), 38:00. Second half - 4, NIC, Lucas Zirotti (John Ray), 65:00.

Shots on goal - WW 18, NIC 12.

Saves - WW, Mitch Jensen 4; NIC, Justin Johnson 6.

* MEN'S BASKETBALL

North Idaho 86

Arizona Western 81

YUMA, Ariz. - Jalil Abdul-Bassit was one of three Cardinals with a team-high 19 points, but his biggest play might have come on defense as NIC held off the Matadors, perennially the top team in District 1.

After Arizona Western had cut NIC's 22-point lead to 2 with 6 minutes left, Abdul-Bassit took a charge at midcourt to stop a Matador fastbreak. Keon Lewis scored on the ensuing possession for the Cards, who never looked back.

"I thought we defended really well," said NIC coach Jared Phay, whose squad held Arizona Western to 28.4 percent (21 of 74) from the field. "(Michael) Middlebrooks was a force in the middle, and his 15 rebounds was a huge difference. And our balance on offense made us hard to guard."

Lewis and Mikey Hope also had 19 points each for NIC, which travels to the Williston (N.D.) State tournament next Thursday through Saturday.

NORTH IDAHO

Jordan McCloud 0-2 2-2 2, Jalil Abdul-Bassit 3-7 11-14 19, Chris Sarbaugh 1-8 1-2 3, Andrew Baracco 0-0 0-0 0, Keon Lewis 6-12 7-10 19, Michael Middlebrooks 3-4 1-2 7, Mikey Hope 5-14 9-11 19, James Webb III 2-5 1-2 5, Nathan Rathbun 1-2 0-0 2, Kaj Sherman 5-8 0-0 10. Totals 26-63 32-43 86.

ARIZONA WESTERN

Aaseen Dixon 5-14 2-5 15, Darien Walker 4-13 12-16 23, Carlos Perez 4-9 4-4 12, Dalvin Brown 1-3 1-2 3, Will Marshall 0-2 0-0 0, Anthony Alston 0-2 1-2 1, Wade Shagrue 1-1 0-0 3, Marvin Whitt 5-17 4-4 17, Tanner Clayton 1-7 2-2 4, Dillon Biggs 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 21-74 29-39 81.

Halftime - NIC 52, AW 39. 3-point goals - NIC 2-11 (Abdul-Bassit 2-6, Sarbaugh 0-1, Lewis 0-1, Hope 0-2, Rathbun 0-1), AW 10-29 (Dixon 3-10, Walker 3-5, Marshall 0-1, Alston 0-1, Shagrue 1-1, Whitt 3-9, Pierce 0-2). Rebounds - NIC 51 (Middlebrooks 15), AW 45 (Perez 9). Assists - NIC 6 (Lewis, Hope 2), AW 13 (Alston 4). Fouled out - Sherman. Total fouls - NIC 29, AW 28.