NIC SOCCER: Cardinal men take control, roll past Truckee Meadows

• MEN

COEUR d’ALENE — The plan was simple for the North Idaho College men’s soccer team on Thursday. 

Get control early. And keep it that way. 

Freshman defender Israel Joseph scored on an assist from freshman midfielder Leonardo Andrejic five minutes into the match, one of five first-half goals for the Cardinals in an 8-0 win over Truckee Meadows Community College of Reno, Nev., in Scenic West Athletic Conference play at Eisenwinter Field. 

Freshman midfielder Sebastiano Casini had a goal and two assists for NIC (9-4-1, 5-3-1 SWAC), which hosts Southern Idaho on Saturday. CSI (7-4-1, 7-1-1), which leads the conference, beat Pacific Northwest Christian (0-9, 0-9) 3-0 in other SWAC play on Thursday in Kennewick, Wash. 

NIC lost to CSI 1-0 on Sept. 13 in Jerome.

“We wanted to get ahold of the game early and keep it going,” NIC coach Brad Williams said. “The guys stuck to the game plan. They knew how we wanted to play and defend and we did that for the entire time. They did everything we asked.” 

Truckee Meadows is 3-8, 2-6. 

First half — 1, NIC, Israel Joseph (Leonardo Andrejic), 5:53. 2, NIC, Judah Straight (unassisted), 11:58. 3, NIC, Ivan Leon (Sebastiano Casini), 15:28. 4, NIC, Fabian Arguello (Andrejic), 16:51. 5, NIC, Daniel Gutierrez (Sebastiano Casini), 28:44. Second half — 6, NIC, Casini (unassisted), 46:33. 7, NIC, Lorian Aerts (unassisted), 58:33. 8, NIC, Amani Contreras (Casini), 67:10. 

Shots on goal — TMCC 6, NIC 16. 

Saves — TMCC, Dwayne Rodriguez-Mata 8; NIC, Indra Suarjana 6. 

• WOMEN

North Idaho 1 

Truckee Meadows 1 

COEUR d’ALENE — Freshman defender Sarah Pippen scored the tying goal in the 82nd minute for the Cardinals, who played to a Scenic West Athletic Conference draw with the Lizards at Eisenwinter Field. 

NIC is 5-4-3, 5-2-2 SWAC.

Truckee Meadows (1-9-1, 1-7-1) scored early in the half and held the lead until Pippen’s goal late in the second half. 

“We weren’t taking many shots and giving ourselves a chance to score,” NIC coach Kellsi Parson said. “We were doing a better job of that in the second half, but went away from it. We started making some crosses and finally found the back of the net. We possessed and looked good on the ball, but it was just one of those days when nothing was going our way. There’s no quit in this team and finding a way gives us a chance to host (in the Region 18 Tournament), but you’ve got to win those games you completely dominate.” 

NIC is in second place in the SWAC, five points behind Salt Lake (9-1-2, 7-1-1) with five conference matches remaining.

NIC hosts College of Southern Idaho on Saturday at 11 a.m. CSI (5-2-3, 4-2-3) beat Pacific Northwest Christian (0-9, 0-9) 7-0 in other SWAC play on Thursday in Kennewick. 

First half — 1, TMCC, Monserrat Iza (unassisted), 1:28. Second half — 2, NIC, Sarah Pippen (Madeline Cook), 82:28. 

Shots on goal — TMCC 6; NIC 13. 

Saves — TMCC, Karen Salgado 12; NIC, Serena Hand 5. 

    KYLE DISHAW PHOTOGRAPHY North Idaho College freshman defender Taya Rich chases down the ball during Thursday's Scenic West Athletic Conference match against Truckee Meadows of Reno, Nev., at Eisenwinter Field in Coeur d'Alene.