Oct. 14, 2024 – After battling through its toughest week of the season last week, Northwest remains No. 1 in the NJCAA Division II Women’s Soccer Rankings for the ninth straight poll.
The rankings are released every Monday afternoon and the Lady Rangers enter this week at 12-0 overall, following victories over previous No. 20 Itawamba and No. 4 Holmes. Northwest defeated ICC 5-1 last Tuesday, before battling to a gritty 3-2 win at Holmes on Friday.
Johnson County (Kan.) remains at No. 2 with a 12-0-3 record, followed by third-ranked Heartland (14-1-1). Holmes remained at No. 4 with its season record slipping to 10-3-1, while Phoenix College rounds out the top five with an 11-1-1 overall mark.
As for other MACCC teams represented in the polls, Jones College slid from No. 5 to No. 7 in this week’s rankings, followed by 12th-ranked Pearl River. Itawamba moved up two spots to No. 18 and Mississippi Gulf Coast rejoined the rankings at No. 20 overall.
RANGERS FOOTBALL DROPS ONE SPOT TO #8 IN NJCAA RANKINGS
Following a close 23-20 victory on the road at Southwest Mississippi last Thursday, the Northwest football program slid a spot from No. 7 to No. 8 in the latest batch of NJCAA Division I Football Rankings, released Monday afternoon.
Northwest (5-1) is one of three MACCC programs ranked in the Top 10 of this week’s poll, preceded by Holmes (6-0) at No. 6 and seventh-ranked Mississippi Gulf Coast (5-1), which dropped from its previous No. 3 spot after last week’s upset loss to East Central.
Itawamba (5-1) is the only other MACCC team ranked this week, as the Indians went from unranked to No. 14. Copiah-Lincoln is also receiving votes, but unranked.
Next up for Northwest is a road division contest at Mississippi Delta on Thursday, October 17 at 7 P.M. The Trojans (1-5, 0-3 MACCC North) are coming off a 52-21 loss to Holmes last week and have lost each of their last three games.
Northwest leads the all-time series against Mississippi Delta by a 49-23-2 margin. In last year’s meeting in Moorhead, the Rangers captured a 31-13 victory against the Trojans, running their winning streak against MDCC to 11 games. Northwest has won 18 of the last 19 meetings against the Trojans, dating back to 2006.
Bob Bakken provides content for DeSoto County News and its social media channels. He is an award-winning broadcaster, along with being a reporter and photographer, and has done sports media relations work with junior and minor league hockey teams. Along with his reports on this website, you will find this veteran media member providing sports updates and high school football play-by-play on Rebel 95.3 FM Radio.
