WNCC men's soccer team opens season Saturday in Cheyenne

               Western Nebraska Community College soccer coach Todd Rasnic is cautiously optimistic about the kind of success his men’s soccer team might have this season.

               Rasnic attributes his optimism to the type of play the Cougars showcased in posting a 1-1-1 record against four-year NCAA Division II schools during the preseason.

               “We are cautiously optimistic about our changes this year,” the seventh year head coach said. “We have seen in the first three competitive efforts an improvement in the level of play. This team is a little bit different than in years past in that our roster size is good. The players are pretty consistent with the starting 11 and then the players coming in after that. The consistency is staying about the same in creating a potential successful season. We have a lot of work to do, but they are looking like they can do something special this year.”

                The Cougar men will open the regular season on Saturday when they face Northwest Kansas Technical College at noon in Cheyenne, Wyo. After that, they will have four straight home matches in six days beginning Sept. 2.

                Rasnic said that Northwest Kansas is a first-year program that he is not taking lightly after what Otero Junior College did last year. Otero was in its first season of soccer and captured the Region IX title and competed at the national tournament. The Rattlers enter the season ranked seventh in the NJCAA preseason polls.

                “Some first year teams are fantastic or they struggle that first year. But we are pretty cautious of how we approach that game because last year, you saw with Otero coming into our region, some of us underestimated the potential of the new team in the region and they ended up in the national tournament. You have to be very careful that you approach each game in the same way making sure your players are prepared to play at the highest level.”

                The men’s team played well the past weekend against RMAC opponents Metro State and Regis. The Cougars fell to Metro 2-1 on a goal in the last seconds and then tied Regis 2-2. Rasnic said it was good to see that kind of competition heading into the regular season.

                “We have a few things still to work on before the opener,” Rasnic said. “We still need some work on our set-piece defense. We played teams this past weekend that could find weaknesses in our system and it was good for us to see areas that we need to work on. Overall, we are ready to start, but at the same time we will continue to make changes to continue to improve as the season goes along.”

                The Cougars return seven from last year’s 5-12 record. The returning players have plenty of talent, led by Luis Tapia of Evanston, Wyo.; Jose Netto of Brazil, Manolo Garcia-Oronoz of Puerto Rico; Riley Mathis of Cheyenne, Wyo.; Seedy Ali-Sarr of Banjul, Gambia; Jesus Alvarado of Cozad; and Ricardo Marropula of Lexington.

                These seven, however, are just part of a team that boasts plenty of talent.

                The newcomers include Mason Nab, Joey Rasnic and Cody Thompson from Gering. The newcomer group also includes Armando Lezama of Lincoln; Mauricio Serrano and Ivan Nava Hernandez of Aurora, Colo.; Banoucarr Sarr and Edrissa Mendy of Banjul, Gambia; Yanis Gabon of Paris, France; Jacob Santos of Hovma, La.; Mark Hubbard of Preston, Idaho; Kyle Gonzales and Matt “Tiki” Lee from Windsor, Colo.; JC Fernandez from Denver; and Erwin Sanchez, Adhemar Lino, Darwin Caranza, and Christian Coronado from Bolivia.

Rasnic said having this much talent is a nice luxury.

                “That is the nice thing about this year in that we are not pointing to just one, two or three players to lead the team,” he said. “And one of the advantages this year is we have several forwards that can run through and keep a very high level of play going in pressuring defenses and keep them on their heels.”

                The Cougar men are hoping that this season can be special. The last time the men’s team had a winning record was back in 2003, the program’s first year of existence. That year, they finished 11-6-1 and won the regional championship. This year’s team resembles that team in many ways.

                “A lot of years, there is different ways you judge of which players start games in different positions and what we are doing right know is result oriented-type rotation,” Rasnic said. “If a player is producing well, they are getting more time in the game and it has been working out well so far. Hopefully, as the season moves along, we continue to stay healthy.”