Cardinal men bury Snow

EPHRAIM, Utah — It was some of the tougher conditions the North Idaho College men's soccer team had dealt with this season on the road. 

Freshman Rodrigo Santos scored 1:59 into the match for the Cardinals, who scored three first half goals in a 4-0 win over the Snow Badgers in a Scenic West Athletic Conference match on Thursday. 

Freshmen Ismael Mane and Rayan Berbachi also had goals in the first half for NIC (9-0, 4-0 SWAC), which left Coeur d'Alene at 2 a.m., on Wednesday to catch a flight for Salt Lake, then bused to Ephraim and arrived at the team's hotel at 6:30 p.m. 

"It was the toughest travel we've had to deal with this season," said NIC coach Brad Williams, whose team had wins in Wyoming and Washington in nonconference play. "We were a little worried coming into the match with how tough it was, but mentally and tactically, the guys were focused and ready to go." 

Kael McGowan, a sophomore from Post Falls High, had five saves for NIC. 

"Snow was receiving votes in the national rankings this week, so to come in and be able to play our attacking style of soccer was nice to see," Williams said. "We've got another tough test on Saturday (at Utah State-Eastern), but if we stick to what we've been doing, we should be OK." 

Snow is 4-2-0, 2-2-0. 

First half — 1, NIC, Rodrigo Santos (Francesco Di Turi), 1:59. 2, NIC, Ismael Mane (Reagan Gyedu), 16:00. 3, NIC, Rayan Berbachi (penalty kick), 33:00. Second half — 4, NIC, Nicolas Sanchez (Ochoa), 80:00. 

Shots on goal — NIC 12, Snow 5. 

Saves — NIC, Kael McGowan 5; Snow, Mathias Christensen 8. 

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