The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team knows that strong defense will be the key when they open the season this weekend at Great Bend, Kan.
On Saturday, WNCC’s defense will be solid as the team takes on No. 14 Barton County Community College. The Cougars will also face Garden City Community College on Sunday.
“All the sophomores know what we need to do against Barton,” sophomore Shayne Tower, a Scottsbluff graduate, said. “They are a good team and we just want to beat them. We will be underestimated because of our size, but we have a lot speed on our team.”
The Cougars are hoping to utilize that speed this weekend against two opponents which WNCC lost to last season -- 3-2 to Barton Count and 1-0 to Garden City. And, if the Cougar men is to pick up a couple wins, it will depend on their defense, which was shaky in their two pre-season scrimmages last weekend.
“We found a lot about our defense [last weekend],” Tower said. “ That was biggest thing. We let some goals go into the back of the net. Still, we are pretty ready. Our defense might be a little shaky, but we will get there. We have a lot of experience. We just have to get things organized.”
The Cougars have been working hard on getting organized defensively, and it is not a matter of not having good players, it is just getting everyone playing on the same page.
“The defense is a little shaky right know,” freshman Jesus Duque said. “But I know when the season starts and after a few games, we will be ready to go.”
The one area that the team isn’t lacking talent in is the offensive side of the ball. Tower said they have plenty of speed and scoring ability on the frontline.
Freshmen Austin Albers of Spearfish, S.D., and Tony Rocha of Denver, Colo., along with sophomore Lazaro Torrez of Aurora, Colo., are what Tower call the Triple Threat.
“We will be very good at scoring,” Tower said. “Freshman Austin Albers is amazing on top. He has a lot of quickness. He also has help with Lazaro and Tony, the triple threat up there.”
The other forward on the team this year is Nathan Southard, a freshman from North Platte,
The mid-fielders include Austin Roy, a freshman from Littleton, Colo., Mark Zigray and Nikko Ouzounis, sophomores, and Matt Hoffman, a freshman, both from Windsor, Colo., Brandon Ludens, freshman from Aurora, Colo., Morgan Wall, sophomore from Scottsbluff, Spencer Duque, freshman from Spearfish, S.D. nd Duque.
Making up the defense includes Tower, Josh Ivey, a freshman from York; Tanner Herian and Tim Iodence of Alliance, Tyler Erb, a freshman from Grand Island, Ryan Dawson, freshman from Venezuela, Luis Anya, fresh from Aurora, Colo., Antonio Herrera-Young, sophomore from Windsor, Colo, and Carlos Miranda, a sophomore from Caguas, Puerto Rico.
Tower and Duque said there is plenty of talent on the team to put together a winning season. Last season, the Cougars finished the season 8-10.
“We are going to be good,” Tower said. “I hope we do better then last year’s team. We have a lot of good players. We are way faster than we were lasat year and we work together better.”
After three weeks of 3-a-days, Duque said this team has blended into one unit. What helped the most was last weekend’s scrimmages against CSU-Pueblo and Dana College, even though they lost.
“We connected pretty well in the two scrimmages,” Duque said. “I didn’t think we would connect that well with each other right away, but in our second scrimmage we really connected well. We let a couple balls by that we should have had on miss communication, But, we are working on that. Once we get that down, we should be alright.
The Cougars, my far, do not have an easy schedule. After this weekend, where they face the No. 14 in the country with Barton County, they will head to Arizona to face the No. 1 ranked team of Yavapai College before meeting Phoeniz College.
The Cougars’ first home match will be Sept. 5 against Western Wyoming Community College at the Lander’s Complex.
Tower said the key for the Cougars, at this point of the season is to start strong on both sides of the ball to get the defense some continuity on the field.
“We have to start out strong. We can’t start off slow,” he said. “We need to knock the ball around and get some balls in the back of the net.
2008 Men’s Soccer Roster
Cesar Bazana, sophomore, Americana, Brazil; Carlos Miranda, sophomore, Caguas, Puerto Rico; Antonio Herrera-Young, sophomore, Windsor, Colo,; Spencer Krueger, freshman, Spearfish, S.D.; Jesus Duque, freshman, Scottsbluff, Neb.; Morgan Wall, sophomore, Alliance, Neb.; Shayne Tower, sophomore, Scottsbluff, Neb.; Nathan Southard, freshman, North Platte, Neb.; Lazaro Torres, sophomore, Aurora, Colo.; Tony Rocha, freshman, Moraz, Mexico; Brandon Ludens, freshman, Spearfish, S.D.; Matt Hoffman, freshman, Windsor, Colo.; Gustavo Rincon, freshman, Venezuela; Tim Iodence, sophomore, Alliance, Neb.; Luis Anaya, fresh, Aurora, Colo.; Josh Ivey, freshman, York, Neb.; Mark Zigray, sophomore, Denver, Colo.; Tyler Erb, freshman, Grand Island, Neb.; Ryan Dawson, freshman, Venezuela; Austin Albers, freshman, Spearfish, S.D.; Austin Roy, freshman, Littleton, Colo.; Raul Sanchez, freshman, Alliance, Neb.; Tanner Herian, freshman, Alliance, Neb.
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