OPENING KICKOFF: The Snow College women's soccer team will continue conference play at North Idaho College Thursday at 1 p.m. Thursday's match will be played in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho.
 
Following Thursday's match, the Badgers will then take on Pacific Northwest Christian College Saturday. Kickoff is scheduled for 11 a.m. in Kennewick, Washington.
 
The Badgers are currently in first place in the Region 18 standings with an 8-1-1 in conference play after defeating the then No. 6 Salt Lake Community College 1-0 and Colorado Northwestern Community College 3-2. These two wins lifted the Badgers to No. 5 in the NJCAA Top 20 Poll.
 
Bailee Ballard was pivotal in the two victories and earned the Scenic West Athletic Conference Player of the Week award. She scored three of the four Badger goals to help the Badgers claim their 10th and 11th wins of the season.
 
KNOW YOUR FOE: The Badgers are 1-0 historically against NIC after winning the first ever matchup 4-0 at home. The Badgers are 3-1-0 when playing on the road this season, only dropping to SLCC, 2-0.
 
The Cardinals are 5-4-1 in SWAC play and are coming off a 2-0 win against the College of Southern Idaho and a 1-1 draw with Truckee Meadows over the weekend. 
 
The Badgers took 19 shots on goal in the first matchup finding the back of the net on four occasions. The Badgers limited the Cardinals to two shots with zero on frame. 
 
The Badgers will then travel to PNWCC to face the 0-10 Gladiators. The Badgers are 3-0 against the Gladiators historically after a 14-0 victory earlier this season. The Badgers have scored 36 goals throughout the three matchups, averaging 12 goals per game.
 
The Gladiators are coming off a 4-0 loss to TMCC and a 5-0 loss to CSI. The Badgers have the largest margin of victory over the Gladiators with a 14-0 victory during the 2024 season.
 
The Badgers took 63 shots against PNWCC during the first matchup this season with 40 shots on goal. Snow College also allowed zero shots to the Gladiators.
 
LAST TIME OUT: The Snow College women's soccer team wrapped up home conference play defeating No. 6 Salt Lake Community College and Colorado Northwestern Community College over the weekend. The Badgers defeated the Bruins 1-0 and the Spartans 3-2. 
 
The No. 10 Badgers entered the weekend with a 6-1-1 conference record and were coming off their lone tie (2-2) against Utah State University Eastern. 
 
With the two victories over the weekend, Snow College now sits in first place in the Scenic West Athletic Conference standings. 
 
Bailee Ballard gave the Badgers the lone goal in the 21st minute. She evaded defenders and eventually lofted a ball towards the goal from 25 yards out.  The high-arcing shot, which was just out of reach of the Bruins keeper, caromed off the far post and found the back of the net. Ballard was assisted by Katie Anderson.
 
Hayley Ogden made two saves following the goal to preserve the lead and the Badgers entered halftime up 1-0. Ogden also made a huge save in the 52nd minute when the Bruins had a one on one breakaway. She dove to her left and got just enough of it to turn away the shot to maintain the lead.
 
The Badgers out shot the Bruins 23-10 through the match with 12 shots on goal. Ogden faced a total of three shots and turned away all of them to help secure the Badgers' seventh shutout of the season.
 
The second victory of the weekend started early for the Badgers with a goal from Ballard assisted by Liv Harding in the 6th minute. The Spartans knotted the game at 1 with their own goal in the 20th minute. The game entered halftime tied 1-1.
 
Soon after the second half began, Ballard scored her second goal of the game and her tenth goal of the season in the 53rd minute assisted by Madi Thurgood. Ballard is the second Badger to reach double digits in the goals column behind Harding, who leads the team with 16. 
 
Daisha Wagner extended the Badger's lead, netting a goal in the 69th minute on a pass from Ali Spencer. 
 
The Badgers committed a handball penalty inside the 18-yard box to give the Spartans a penalty shot in the 85th minute. CNCC capitalized on the opportunity and pushed the score to 3-2. 
 
The rest of the game saw no more shots as the Badgers held onto a 3-2 victory to improve to 11-1-1 overall and 8-1-1 within conference play.
 
The Badgers took a total of 36 shots with 19 on goal scoring on three of those shots. The Spartans took four shots on goal with Ogden saving two shots to tally 24 saves on the season. 
 
PLAYER OF THE WEEK: Bailee Ballard earned the Scenic West Athletic Conference Player of the Week award, the conference announced Monday. Ballard played a crucial role in both victories over Salt Lake Community College and Colorado Northwestern Community College.
 
Ballard, a freshman forward from American Fork, Utah, netted three of the four goals the Badgers scored over the weekend. 
 
Ballard's first goal of the weekend came against the No. 6 Bruins as the lone and deciding goal of the match to lift the Badgers over the Bruins. She dribbled through the Bruin defense and lofted a shot 25 yards from the goal. The high-arcing shot, which was just out of reach of the Bruins keeper, caromed off the far post and found the back of the net.
 
She scored two more goals against the Spartans with the first being in the 6th minute of the match to give the Badgers an early lead. Ballard scored yet again in the 53rd minute to give the Badgers a 2-1 lead after the Spartans tied the match before halftime.
 
Ballard has started in all 13 games for the Badgers this season.  She has scored a total of 10 goals, which is the second-most on the team.  She has also dished out six assists which is tied for the most on the team.
 
UP NEXT: The Badgers will continue their road trip against Truckee Meadows Community College Thursday Oct. 24 at 1 p.m. in Reno, Nevada. The Badgers will then wrap up their regular season in Twin Falls, Idaho, taking on the College of Southern Idaho Saturday Oct. 26. Saturday's match is scheduled to kickoff at 11 a.m. For video streaming and live stat information, visit snowbadgers.com.