Kennedy Lawes scored a pair of goals to help lead the Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team to a 3-1 win over Northwest College on Friday afternoon at the Landers Soccer Complex in Scottsbluff.

Lawes, a sophomore from Kaysville, Utah, put the Cougars on the scoreboard first with about 14 minutes to play in the first half. She netted her second in the second half to give WNCC a commanding 3-0 lead.

Lawes' two goals leads the team with six on the season.

"I thought we played really well," Lawes said. "Our passing was good and we were finishing our shots. All together we did a great job."

Aiyanna Grubac assisted Lawes on the first goal and Rhiannon Castle had the assist on Lawes other goal.

Eden Washington scored the Cougars' second goal with about two minutes to play in the first half off an assist from Chelsey Keefer.

The win proved to be a key one for the Cougars. It pushed WNCC into third place in the regional standings with an overall record of 5-3-1. The third-place finisher will host the fourth-place team in the first round of the playoffs. Northwest sets fourth at 5-4 while Trinidad is 3-6.

"In order to secure a spot in the playoffs, we knew we had to win this game," Lawes said. "Hopefully, we can win the ones down the line."

That next one will be Saturday afternoon against Sheridan College. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. It will be sophomore recognition for the Cougar sophomores Lawes, Grubac, Castle, Keefer, Marissa Colgrove, Sydnee Edwards, Hannah Wilke, and Isabel Hunter.

Friday's contest was pretty much controlled by WNCC. The Cougars totaled 19 shots compared to just seven for the Trappers. Katie Hoff scored the only goal for Northwest with two minutes left in the contest.

Saturday's match will be a rematch of a contest that was won 3-2 by Sheridan back on Sept. 18.

"We need to play like we did today with higher intensity," Lawes said. "We have to come out strong."