Friday, October 17, 2008

WNCC women win, men lose in first round of Region IX soccer playoffs

The Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team advanced to the championship match of the Region IX Playoffs with a 3-0 win over Western Wyoming Community College Friday afternoon in Rock Springs, Wyo.

The Cougar men, on the other hand, saw their season come to a close after falling to Western Wyoming Community College 1-0.The Cougar women, 10-6-1, will now face No. 4-ranked Laramie County Community College Sunday at 11 a.m. in the title contest.

WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said the ladies played well, but they will have to play better Sunday.

“The girls played alright. Their touch wasn’t on today, but they went out and accomplished the goals I set for them,” Rasnic said. “We have some work to do before Sunday. We will practice [today] and we have to clean up a few things.”

Rasnic said the ladies met the expectations he set forth in the opening-round contest.

“I gave them four goals in the game plan and they accomplished all four of those in a fairly strong fashion,” he said. “Our passing was off quite a bit today and I think that will change the whole game once that gets back on. We work some on that tomorrow and get them flowing again.”

The four things that Rasnic told the team to accomplish included winning the 50/50 balls and the 1v1 challenges; don’t give up penalities; track players on transition, so when the other team gets the ball each player had to pick someone up as they were traveling to the other end of the field; and to keep their team discipline on the field, which is their organization and trying to force the game.

Rasnic said the ladies did all four of those things pretty well.

The other thing they did was score. Just six minutes into the game, the Cougars registered their first goal as Ana Jacobo scored off an assist by Shawna Michaelis.

The score stayed that way until the second half when WNCC added two more goals. The first came with 62:17 left to play as Ashley Quintana scored off an assist by LeeAnna Paxton. The final goal came off the foot of Andrea Ardito, who nailed a penality kick into the net with 89:10 to play.

WNCC recorded 10 shots on goal compared to Western Wyoming's three. The Cougars had six corner kicks in the contest.WNCC goalkeeper Terri Huntington had three saves in net.

But for the Cougar women to bring home a regional title – their first since the program’s inaugeral season in 2003 – they need to play at a higher level to beat Laramie County.

“They have to do more than [those four goals],” Rasnic said. “They have to be a lot more advanced in their play. We will just need to take it up
another level.”

While the women were victorious on the field, the men weren’t as fortunate. The Mustangs scored the only goal of the contest in the 40th minute to hold a 1-0 lead at intermission. WNCC did score late, but the goal was called back.Rasnic said the men’s team dominated the game, getting 12 shots on goal compared to Western Wyoming’s four, but the Cougar men just couldn’t get the ball in the net.

“Western Wyoming got one lucky break where they got through and scored on us,” he said. “That is the bottom line. They had only seven shots and only four were shots on goal.”
T

The Cougar men finish with a 6-8-1 record, while the women will try to win their 11th match of the season Sunday at 11 a.m. for the Region IX title.

No comments: