A weekend split of two matches in Washington means the Southwestern Oregon Community College women’s soccer team must win its final two matches and get help to return to the playoffs.

The Lakers beat Bellevue 1-0 on Friday, but lost 4-1 to Clark on Saturday.

Both games were played in wet and blustery weather on muddy fields.

“The conditions were difficult for all the teams for both of the games,” said Shaun Kohn, the Southwestern head coach. “We handled the conditions well overall, just came out a bit flat against Clark on Saturday.”

Clark built a 2-0 halftime lead before Natasha Sawall got the Lakers on the board early in the second half. Clark added two goals by getting behind the Southwestern defense later in the match.

Sawall also had the winning goal against Bellevue, scoring in the 38th minute.

Kate Tuers earned the shutout, while facing just five shots and making three saves. Southwestern had 22 shots.

With the split, Southwestern is 10-6-0 in NWAACC play and 12-6-0 overall.

Clackamas leads the South Region at 15-0-1, while Lane is 11-3-1 (34 points) and Clark is 10-2-3 (33 points). Southwestern had 30 points with home matches remaining against Lane on Saturday and Lower Columbia on Nov. 3.

Clark plays league-leading Clackamas, Lane and last-place Lower Columbia. Lane also still must play Lower Columbia.

“We’re excited to play at home for our final two regular-season matches,” Kohn said. “We can only take care of ourselves, and if we happen to get some help, we’ll certainly appreciate it.”

Men swept

Southwestern’s men lost a pair of 4-0 matches to Bellevue and Clark.

“It was not a very good weekend for us,” Southwestern coach Ray Fabien said.

He said the Lakers missed opportunities in both matches, played on the same fields as the women’s matches.

“The field at Clark was horrible,” Fabien said. “That’s not why we lost the game.

“We had one-on-one opportunities with a chance to take the lead and take the game over and did not capitalize.”

The Lakers, now 3-9-2, still will place third in the NWAACC South Region, which has just four teams for men’s soccer. Last-place South Puget Sound is 1-13-0.

“Our goal is to try to get two wins somehow and get into the playoffs,” Fabien said.

Southwestern is at South Puget Sound on Oct. 31 and hosts Pierce to close the regular season on Nov. 3.

Cross country

Southwestern’s men finished seventh, while the women were ninth in the Beaver Classic on Saturday in Corvallis. The Lakers were the only community college team in the meet.

Josh Frasier led Southwestern’s men by placing 40th in 26 minutes and 56 seconds for the 8,000-meter course.

Andrew Scott was 48th (27:26), Peter Becker 49th (27:29), Kameron Ulmer 56th (27:52), and Rob Manning 58th (27:57) to round out the Lakers’ scoring runners.

Southwestern’s other finishers were Travis Clark in 82nd (29:16), Jon Peterson in 92nd (31:22), Casey Gleason in 103rd (34:04) and Chris Davis-Garland in 104th (34:06).

Francesca Frasier led Southwestern’s women by placing 36th in 23:45 on a 6,000-meter course. Tracey Melgoza was 44th (24:02), Leah Partman 77th (28:41), Abby Gillaspie 80th (31:13) and Rachel Ramirez 81st (31:34).

This weekend, the Lakers compete in the NWAACC South Region championships at Clackamas, where both teams have a shot at third place.

Volleyball swept

Southwestern’s volleyball team couldn’t manage a win on the road over the weekend, falling in three games at both Chemeketa and Linn-Benton.

Chemeketa beat the Lakers 30-16, 30-24, 30-27 on Friday, while Linn-Benton topped Southwestern 30-8, 30-16, 30-16 on Saturday.

Southwestern fell to 1-8 in league play with one regular-season match remaining. The Lakers are at the Umpqua crossover on Nov. 3 and visit Umpqua to close the regular season on Nov. 7.