WNCC women's soccer ends season at district tournament

Story courtesy of By JEFF FIELDER, Star-Herald Sports Editor

CHEYENNE, Wyo. — The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team did its best to knock off unbeaten Hutchinson Community College on Friday, but the Cougars couldn’t muster enough offense to keep its season alive in the first round of the District B Playoffs.

The No. 3-rated Dragons, who entered the match with a 20-0 record, came up with a couple nifty scoring shots and played well enough defensively to pull away from WNCC in a hard-fought battle, 3-1.

“We weren’t connecting very well on our passes today, which against a team that is 20-0, that is not something you can do and expect to win games,” WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said. “Overall, I thought we played with a lot of effort. We certainly had our chances to get an advantage in the game and maybe change the momentum. Unfortunately, we missed a few key opportunities to score in front of the goal.”

The win advances Hutchinson into today’s district championship match against Laramie County Community College, which defeated North Idaho 3-1 in the other District B Playoff semifinal match Friday. Hutchinson and LCCC will collide at 2 p.m. at Cheyenne.

For the Cougars, they saw their season come to a close at 9-10-2. Although WNCC was hoping to pull off a couple upsets in the district playoff to advance to the eight-team national tournament later this month at Topeka, Kan., Rasnic said his players deserve to hold their heads high.

“I told them this morning that we have nothing to lose. We came in here as the underdog, so we’ll just go out and play the best game we can and be satisfied that we’ve made it into districts for the third time since 2003 [the program’s inaugural season],” Rasnic said. “Just getting to districts is a pretty big honor.”

Hutchinson struck first, scoring 15 minutes into the first half. WNCC didn’t take long to respond, scoring on a nice kick by Kristi Blicharz in the 25th minute. Fernanda Acorinte assisted on the goal.

Hutchinson went back in front about 10 minutes before halftime. The Dragons maintained a 2-1 lead at halftime, but the Cougars still felt confident at that point.

WNCC’s upset hopes, however, started to fade a bit after Hutchinson tallied its third goal 10 minutes into the second half.

“They did a nice job of finishing on that one,” Rasnic said. “It kind of ate into our momentum a little bit, and I don’t think we ever recovered from that third goal.”

Although the Cougars continued to battle hard, Hutchinson prevented WNCC from rallying.

Rasnic said he’s proud of his players for reaching the district playoffs, especially considering the adversity the team faced this season. WNCC didn’t have much depth to open the season, and things didn’t get any better as the season progressed because the squad was hit hard by injuries.

“I thought we did a good job with what we had,” he said. “These girls battled through a lot this year and turned what could have been a disastrous season into something special. They battled all the way. They knew exactly what they had to do to get into districts, and they got the job done. I have a lot of admiration for them. They’ve battled through a lot of things this year.”