WNCC Cougar men drop soccer match

WNCC men drop home soccer contest

Something had to give when the Western Nebraska Community College and Garden City Community College men’s soccer teams took to the field Saturday afternoon at the Allen C. Landers Soccer Complex.

Both teams came into the contest struggling to score goals and after Saturday’s action, the Broncobusters just might have turned the corner claiming a 3-1 victory over the Cougars.

“I think we played pretty well. It has been a struggle the whole season in getting the second and third goals,” Garden City head coach Jeff Huffman said. “We have scored the first goal every single game this year and it is good to score that second and third goal.”

WNCC, though, was playing without several starters that were sidelined for disciplinary reasons. Still, Cougar coach Todd Rasnic said the players that did play put up a good effort, especially in the second half.

“The guys that we put on the field I thought performed well and really stepped up to the challenge,” Rasnic said. “I thought at one point there when we got our first goal we might be able to get it figured out and put a couple more in the net. But that just didn’t happen today. It was one of those days where it wasn’t meant to be.”

Garden City took an early 1-0 lead as Brian Arruda netted the first goal at the 21:20 mark on a little chip shot that off a deflected missed shot.

The score stayed that way until 11 minutes in the second half when the Broncbuster’s Gustavo Argusta took a pass from Julian Gonzales for a 2-0 lead. Justin Safer scored Garden City’s third goal 22 minutes into the second half for a commanding 3-0 lead.

WNCC didn’t fold. Two minutes after Garden City scored, Diego Maija took a pass from Alliance’s Tim Iodence to cut the lead to 3-1. The Cougars continued to be aggressive toward the net, but had many near miss passes and shots that were just off line.

Overall, both teams played an equal game. Garden City had 19 shots at net, while the Cougars had 14 shots. Garden City had five corner kicks to WNCC’s three.

Both goalkeepers, GCCC’s Brandon Ludtke and WNCC’s Adam Rivera each had four saves in net.

Huffman said this was a tough match, and it is a good win for his squad.
“It was a pretty tough game. They are a technical team and they like to knock it around and we like to do the same thing,” Huffman said. “It was a good game for us.”

Huffman said they will look to back it back-to-back wins when they face Laramie County Community College on their mini northern road trip.

“This has been a really good trip and we are trying to get back-to-back wins and really push forward,” he said. “We are done with our conference season and now it is all non-conference games. We are working to get better so we can win regionals.”

WNCC, who saw their record fall to 3-6, will try to put Saturday’s loss behind them when they host Cloud County Community Monday. The Cougar women begin the day at noon followed by the men at 2 p.m. at the Landers Soccer Complex.

“We will push hard again on Monday against Cloud County, which will be another tough match. We are just going to look at the next match, get prepared and get ready to play,” Rasnic said. “We are going to put this match behind us and go out and try to get a victory on Monday.”