CALDWELL, Idaho – After three straight Cascade Collegiate Conference victories gave NCU a glimmer of hope for their first post-season appearance, a 5-1 loss to The College of Idaho on Saturday may have put that opportunity further out of reach.
 
The Yotes out-shot the Beacons 15-6 in the contest and held a 7-3 lead in shots-on-goal.
 
The College of Idaho held a 1-0 lead going into the intermission after a late goal by Riley Smith. The second stanza began with another goal for the Yotes, when Luis Gomez connected off a pass from Joseph Bolin.
 
Over the next 14 minutes Bolin would score twice, giving the home team a 4-0 lead.
 
Northwest Christian avoided the shutout in the 68th minute when Chris Hendler (pictured) collected the ball and fired a long one-timer into the upper right corner of the net for his third goal of the season.
 
Then, in the 73rd minute, Bolin completed a hat-trick, scoring unassisted.
 
Head Coach Brett Bentley said, "This was a rough one. Today was, unfortunately, a good reminder that games are hard to win in this conference. The guys were a little over-confident so we didn't do a great job preparing mentally for the game."
 
The Beacons (4-8-2, 3-6-1 CCC) return home next Saturday, playing host to Concordia University at 7:00 pm. With four games remaining in the regular season, NCU sits in sixth place with 10 points, six points behind fourth-place Evergreen. The top-four teams will qualify for the CCC tournament.