NIC MEN'S SOCCER: Depth does the trick for Cardinals against Skagit Valley

MOUNT VERNON, Wash. — The Cardinals have dudes this year. 

So much so that the other dudes, in some of their first game time of the year, shined on Monday. 

Santiago Nunez, a freshman midfielder from Las Vegas, had two goals and an assist for North Idaho College in a 7-0 nonconference win over Skagit Valley College at Sigmar Field. 

“We’ve got enough depth and quality on our roster and played 20 of our 22 guys today,” said NIC coach Brad Williams, whose team played its third game in four days. “Today’s result really shows how deep we are. It was a big, turf field and you could see the difference. Once we get on a turf field, we dominate and today was another display of that.” 

Freshman Rabi Helmand of Frankfurt, Germany, and freshman Andrea DiMarcello had two assists each for NIC (3-0), which travels to Central Wyoming of Riverton, Wyo., on Thursday.

“We were really happy with the contributions of those guys that haven’t been playing much today,” Williams said. “We just need to keep learning and growing.” 

Skagit Valley is 2-1. 

First half – 1, NIC, Leonardo Andrejic (Dontae Logan), 6:06. 2, NIC, Ibukun Opesanmi (Noel Daehne), 14:50. 3, NIC, Santiago Nunez (unassisted), 37:26. 4, NIC, Tom Renner (Andrejic), 38:13. Second half – 5, NIC, Rabi Helmand (Andrea DiMarcello, Sebastiano Casini), 46:05. 6, NIC, Israel Joseph (Tom Renner, Helmand), 67:07. 7, NIC, Nunez (DiMarcello, Ivan Leon), 69:28. 

Shots on goal – NIC 19, SVC 0. 

Saves – NIC, Taylor Corpron 0; SVC, Adam Jarvis 3, Jayden Cruz 8.