ROCK SPRINGS, Wyo. -- The Western Nebraska Community College men's and women's soccer team finished the regular season with different results on Sunday.
The Cougar women played tough against a good North Idaho College squad, earning a double overtime tie at 1-1. The men, on the other hand, suffered a 2-0 loss. Both teams will now host the Region IX playoffs beginning Monday.
WNCC soccer coach Todd Rasnic said that both teams played well despite the tie and loss.
"They played well considering North Idaho had a day of rest and we played a game on Saturday that went to overtime to win the game," he said. "I had to take girls off the field because they couldn't stand up because their legs were Jello and to pull out a tie was a pretty big accomplishment."
The Cougar scored first with just 7 minutes, 30 seconds gone in the contest as Brittany McNeal scored off of assists from Ashley Gleason and Jordan Lutkin. North Idaho tied the game a couple minutes later. After that, neither team would score through the rest of the regulation and the two 10-minute overtime periods.
WNCC registered nine shots on goal, while North Idaho had 13 shots.
Rasnic said he saw plenty of positives from the women on Sunday.
"We had a good all-around game. We attacked their goal and dominated them until the very end of the second half," he said. "We defended pretty much in overtime. Quite honestly, we dominated through the middle and up top. Fernanda [Acorinte] had an outstanding game in the middle as well as the other mid-fielders. Jess [Taylor] came up big in net a few times today."
The guys also did well despite playing without their centerback and playing a team that had a days rest.
North Idaho quickly got on the scoreboard scoring just 5:30 into the match to take a 1-0 halftime lead. North Idaho added an insurance run in the 53rd minute to go up 2-0.
Both teams will have four days before entering the Region IX playoffs Friday and Saturday at the Landers Soccer Complex. The Cougar men, 5-11, will face Otero Junior College, 12-2-1, on Friday at 8 a.m. The other men's game will have Laramie County Community College, 10-6-2, facing Northwest College, 7-4-2, at 10:30 a.m. with the winners slated to face each other on Saturday at noon.
The women's regional playoffs kick off at 1 p.m. with Laramie County, 14-3-1, facing Northwest Wyoming, 3-7-1, followed by WNCC, 8-8-2, meeting Western Wyoming, 10-7, at 3:30 p.m.
Rasnic said the team will be ready, but first they have to get healed up.
"We have a lot of injuries on the women's side still. Daisy [Rosales] didn't play today because she injured her ankle on Saturday. We have to get some players healed up, do a little bit of recovery work, and then we will hit the training hard for the next four days.
"But, both teams will be fine. The men's team will bounce back and play hard in the playoffs. When you have a young team, you don't worry too much as long as they come out and put a good effort on the field and we will be OK."
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