Oct. 15, 2011 -- The Western Nebraska Community College men's soccer team enters next weeks Region IX playoffs on a big of a high after putting together a complete game in stopping Western Wyoming Community College 3-2 at the Landers Soccer Complex Saturday afternoon.
The Cougar men, 7-8-1, scored twice in the second half to notch the victory in the team's final regular season contest. Seedy Ali-Sarr, one of seven sophomores on the team, said this was a big win for the Cougars as they enter into next week's regional tournament.
"Today we got the team back together. The team battled to the end and it was a collective win," Ali-Sarr said. "We came together, put our heads together, and worked as a team."
The Cougars did have a good offensive and defensive effort against the Mustangs, even though Western Wyoming scored two goals against them. WNCC outshot the Mustangs 18-8 in the contest with 10 coming on frame.
WNCC and Western Wyoming entered halftime tied at 1-1. Baboucarr Sarr scored the Cougars goal off an assist from Manolo Garcia-Oronoz, while Western Wyoming's goal came from Devin King.
The second half saw WNCC dominate play on their offense end for the first 25 minutes as the pummeled the goal, but just coming up short. The Cougars Riley Mathis had a prime scoring chance as he took a header off a corner kick and somehow the ball didn't go into net.
Finally, though, the Cougars scored a second goal. Jose Netto took a pass from Jacob Santos and, off balance and falling to the ground, put the ball in the back of the net with 21 minutes to play. The lead didn't last long as Western Wyoming scored two minutes later on a goal by Coleman Hayduk to tied things at 2-2.
WNCC came back with about 10 minutes with the winning goal as Erwin Sanchez took a pass from Netto and calmly found the back of the net.
The big play, however, came on defense as with about three minutes to play, the Cougar defense made two bang-bang plays inside their box to thwart a Mustang scoring opportunity. After that, WNCC held strong to pick up their seventh win of the season.
WNCC's Joey Rasnic and Jesus Alvarado shared time in net. Rasnic played the first half, allowing one goal and making three saves, while Alvarado played the second half in getting two saves and allowing a goal.
The two teams will be back in action on Wednesday in the first-round of the Region IX playoffs as the Cougars travel to Rock Springs, Wyo., for the opening match. WNCC enters the tournament as the No. 5 seed, while Western Wyoming is the No. 4 seed. The other first round contest has Northeastern Junior College traveling to Northwest Wyoming. Laramie County and Otero Junior College received first-round byes.
Ali-Sarr said his team will need to be ready because it will be tougher on Western Wyoming's home turf.
"We need to play the same way that we did today' we have to mentally be ready," he said. "It will be at their place so it will be a little bit tougher and they will come hard. They are a tough team, but. I think we have the strength and the skills with the guys."
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