The women, who have had four scrimmages thus far, will finally kick off the regular season against Dodge City Community College at 12:30 p.m. on Friday followed by the men’s game at 3 p.m. at the Landers Soccer Complex.
The women and men will then be back in action on Saturday when they face Pratt Community College. The women kick off at 12 noon followed by the men’s game at the Landers complex.
Sophomore Rachelle Tekler said the team can’t wait to get the season started.
“We are really excited to start the season because we have been playing teams that are a lot harder and we have been playing really good against them even though we lost,” Tekler, of Kersey, Colo., said. “Those scrimmages will help us because we have been practicing really hard so we will play at their [the four-year school] skill level. Our play in the games will be like the preseason games.”
The women’s team found the going tough in the three preseason contests against Regis, Metro State and the Colorado School of Mines, the three teams that are picked in the top five of the RMAC conference. The Cougars were blanked by a combined 31-0 score in all three of the games. The Colorado School of Mines is ranked fifth in the NCAA Division II preseason polls.Tekler said they now know what it takes to win and be a championship squad.
“Those teams were really good. They played really good together and they connected passes and they are really aggressive,” she said. “We just need to get that first goal this weekend and then we will have some confidence and we will then know we can get a second one.”
Tekler said this team has all the potential to do great things this season. She added they are working on playing a faster game then in the past.
“I think we have a lot more talent than last year,” she said. “We have players that can score and we can defend well. We play really well together. We are scrimmaging a lot this week and we are trying to get one or two touches on the ball, so it is a lot faster play.”
While the women’s team will be making their season debut, the men already have a contest under their belt. The Cougar men topped Northwest Kansas Technical College 2-1 on Sunday behind goals by Baboucarr Sarr and Mason Nab.
Sophomore Riley Mathis, of Cheyenne, Wyo., expects good things from this year’s squad.
“There is a lot of talent this season,” Mathis said. “We lost some really good sophomores last year, but we have some good guys coming back. There are also a couple freshmen that have stepped up and playing at a top level. There are some players that can really handle the ball really well.”
The Cougar men definitely have found success during the preseason and their one regular season game. Mathis said that they are looking forward to playing Dodge City, a team that defeated the Cougars on a goal in the last seconds last season.
“Hopefully we can get an early lead so we can run some of the other players in and get them some experience,” he said. “They are kind of a rival team. Last year Dodge City beat us on a goal in the last few seconds so it will take us to come out and pound the ball quickly and try to get some early goals. We have been scored on late in the game this preseason so having that already happen to us will help us to stay strong.”
Mathis said the team is getting excited for this weekend’s series.
“Everybody is getting excited in practices,” he said. “Everyone is getting pretty pumped. It will definitely be good to see how we do against JUCOs that have good talent. The team we played this weekend was their first year. It will be good how we stack up against the test of other talent.
The Dodge City men come into the contest with an 1-1 record. DCCC defeated Northeastern Junior College 5-0 before falling to No. 15 Western Texas 9-0. The Dodge City women enters Friday’s contest with a 0-1 record falling to No. 10 Western Texas 7-0.
After this weekend’s matches, the Cougar teams will host Northwest College in a Region IX contest on Wednesday.
No comments:
Post a Comment