The
Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team returns nine players from
a year ago as they are set to open the season this weekend at Great Bend, Kan.
The
Cougars will open the campaign on Saturday against Pratt Community College and
the face Barton Community College on Sunday. The men’s squad will then have
their home opener on Saturday, Sept. 8 when they host Northwest Kansas
Technical College at 3 p.m. at the Landers Soccer Complex.
WNCC
men’s coach Todd Rasnic said his team has got better each match during the
pre-season and is ready for the season to begin.
“They
are coming along better than the beginning of practices, but we still have some
work to do,” Rasnic said. “We are hopeful that if they continue to improve in
each game, we should be a strong force in Region IX. As far as the work rate
and the coach-ability of the team, they seem to be very open. We incorporated a
new system a week ago and that turned out well against Colorado Christian in a
scrimmage on Sunday.”
WNCC
will face a Barton squad that tied and beat two Region IX teams last week to
open the season. The Barton Cougars tied Otero 2-2 before defeating Northwest
College 2-0. Rasnic said these games will tell how they will stack up in the
region this year.
“It
is pretty busy and pretty telling in the preparation that our guys have done,”
he said. “If we can maintain some consistency this year and continue to attack
and make improvements, we will be on the right track. We will let the results
be what they may and we will see how they perform.”
The
Cougar men do have a nice mix of returners and incoming talent. WNCC returns
nine players that were involved on last year’s 8-9 team that lost in penalty
kicks to Otero in the opening round of the Region IX playoffs.
Returning
are Gering players Joey Rasnic, Mason Nab, and Cody Thompson. Also making a
return trip to WNCC are Kyle Gonzales and Matt “Tiki” Lee from Windsor, Colo.;
Jacob Santos from Hovrna, La.; Adhemar Lino from Bolivia; JC Fernandez from
Aurora, Colo.; Mark Hubbard from Franklin, Idaho.
Also
back on the team after a year away is Harry Buerio, who played for the Cougars
a couple years ago.
The
Cougars also have a nice blend of newcomers, including several Nebraska
graduates. The newcomers from instate include Justin Becerra, Bernardo Urrea
and Taylor Patrick from Scottsbluff, Edwin Contreras from Lexington; Eric
Rivera from Boys Town, and Jonathan Ramirez Rodriguez from Grand Island.
The
rest of the newcomers are Daniel Agnew, Thomas Wright, and Jack Cutler from Ireland;
Donovan Valentine from Torrington, Wyo.; and Jonathan De Santiago and Fernando
Gutierrez of Chino, Calif.
Rasnic
said he likes the makeup of this year’s team.
“We
are OK. We will see how everybody’s body will hold up,” he said. “We have
brought in some pretty talented players that are learning every day we step on
the field and they continue to get better.”
Rasnic
will be primary goalkeeper while being backed up Becerra. Rasnic said the
defense has picked up ground and looks solid.
“Defensively,
we gave up one goal in the scrimmage Sunday against Colorado Christian,” he
said. “I think the one difference you will see this year is we have a strong
back line that responds well to coaching, adjustments, and that is a key factor
for me. If they can adapt during a match, that will put us in a better position
to stay in games and push forward to score on the other end.”
The
offense, on the other hand, will come around like it did in the 4-1 win over
Colorado Christian on Sunday.
“Offensively
was one of the key struggles in the early scrimmages and because of the change
of system, we have become more dangerous in the final third of the field after
Sunday’s last scrimmage,” he said. “If we can keep consistency in the final
third, you should see us be competitive in the region.”
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