The Red Raiders (1-1-2) fell to #22 ranked Trinity Christian College 3-1 Thursday afternoon in Palos Heights, Ill.

The scoring for the Trolls started in the 7th minute when Selah Hopkins took the ball off a throw in and beat two Raider defenders to hit a left footed finish into the top corner past keeper Kaelin Alons. 

The Trolls kept the pressure on the Raiders and would find another goal in the 21st off a long shot by Taylor Miller. 

"We really struggled with energy in the first 20 minutes and did not defend well as a group of 11," commented head coach Ben Karnish. "We could not find the ball and the pressure from Trinity kept us under in the first 20 minutes and sadly, that put us in a bad spot for the rest of the match."

The second half started off much better for the Raiders as the started a much different group than the one that started the match. The changes would pay off early for NWC as they would get a goal in the 50th minute.

Ashlee Speck would play a long ball off a free kick and Kiley Fish would win the first 50/50 ball and Kalie Hoekstra would flick on the ball one more time to Emily Hurley who flicked the ball past the Troll keeper for her first career goal. It was Hoekstra's first career assist.

The Raiders would continue to keep the high energy up but it never lead to another needed goal. The Trolls would extend the lead to two goals again in the 63rd minute and the score would remain 3-1 for the remainder of the match. 

"It was rough to have a game where if we take out the first 20 minutes with our starters, we have a 1-1 game against a top 25 team. Hopefully our gals can see that coming out with high intensity and pressure, regardless of talent, is needed to compete at the college level."

The Raiders kickoff again Saturday afternoon at 12pm at Saint Xavier University.