WNCC men's, women's soccer teams open pre-season practices Wednesday

Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer coach Todd Rasnic got a brief look at this year’s two teams during an abbreviated opening practice Wednesday evening.

Rasnic, so far, likes what he sees.

“The players that we have this year in what I have seen of them, seems that each one has a high work ethic, they really have embraced the team concept,” he said. “We can look forward to having a good year this year. I really think the individual success of the players will come from a group of guys that will work together and be dedicated to the team concept and hard work. I think we have those type of players this year.”

The men’s team has 21 players on the roster this season with several local products, including Geoff Critzer and Shayne Tower of Scottsbluff, Chris Thompson of Gering, Tim Iodence, Morgan Wall and Tanner Herian of Alliance.

The women have 17 on the roster and Rasnic said he has an opening for one more player on his roster of 18. The women only have one local player on the team in returning sophomore Nancy Boyack of Gering, but feature six players from last year’s team.

Rasnic the numbers of players is just right.

“We have a lot of local players and we do encourage the local players to come out and try out for the team,” Rasnic said. “A lot of times in the recruiting process I will find those players. Sometimes kids will surprise you. We have certainly developed a lot of youth in this area that can play the game. We would to keep our kids here and one good way to do that is to bring them on to our local community college, get them educated and allow them to play the game they have been playing all their life.”

Both teams will get into the full practice mode with three-a-days beginning today. The team will have conditioning at 6 a.m., followed by technical training from 11 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. and then tactical sessions from 4 – 7:15 p.m.

The men made the most of the first practice with a full 1 ½ evcning session, while the women’s practice was cut short because of lightning. Both teams will also have just 10 days of practice before their first scrimmage Aug. 11 against the Colorado State University-Colorado Springs on the road.

“it is a short time., but they should have three weeks of work in after last week’s captain’s training and the players that worked on their own before this week,” he said. “We should have players that are at least ¾ in shape and ready to play. That should be a good test for us to see where we should be this year.”

Men’s Roster
Tanner Herian, 5-11freshman from Alliance; Tim Iodence, 6-4 sophomore from Alliance; Santiago Almeida, 5-8 sophomore from Quito, Ecuador; Diego Camparide, 5-4 sophomore from Quito, Ecuador; Mark Zigray, 6-0 freshman from Windsor, Colo.; Carlos Miranda, 5-9 freshman from Caguas, Puerto Rico; Edwin Enriquez, 5-6 sophomore from Quito, Ecuador; Julio Cajes, 5-9 freshman from Quito, Ecuador; Antonio Herrera-Young, 5-11 freshman from Windsor, Colo.; Lazzaro Torres, 5-6 freshman from Aurora, Colo.; Aaron Oesterle, 6-2 sophomore from Austin, Minn.; Tony Rocha, 5-5 freshman from Denver, Colo.; Nikko Ouzounis, 5-10 freshman from Aurora, Colo.; David Castillo, 5-11 freshman from Aurora, Colo.; Shayne Tower, 5-11 freshman from Scottsbluff; Chris Thompson, 6-2 freshman from Gering; Cesar Bazana, 6-2 freshman from Americana, Brazil; Renato Segalla, 6-2 sophomore from Santo Andre, Brazil; Morgan Wall, 5-10 freshman from Alliance; Geoff Critzer, 5-7 sophomore from Scottsbluff; and Eloy Matos, 5-7 sophomore from Puerto Rico.

Women’s Roster
Jessica Arreguin, 5-3 freshman from Greeley, Colo.; Lara Merkey, 5-1 freshman from Ft. Collins, Colo.; Andrea Ardito, 5-3 freshman from Sao Paulo, Brazil; LeeAnna Paxton, 5-2 freshman from Greeley, Colo.; Alisha Rapkin, 5-3 freshman from Aurora, Colo.; Claudia Gomez, 5-1 freshman from Aurora, Colo.; BreAnne Perkes, 5-4 sophomore from Plain City, Utah; Kyrstin Wingert, 5-1 sophomore from South Jordan, Utah; Paige Achatz, 5-4 sophomore from Great Bend, Kan.; Terri Huntington, 5-8 freshman from Bluffdale, Utah; Nancy Boyack, 5-3 sophomore from Gering; Maria Garcia, 5-1 freshman from Denver, Colo.; Stacey Agnew, 5-7 sophomore from Leicaster, England; Ashley Quintana, 5-5 freshman from Aurora, Colo.; Amanda Arrant, 5-4 sophomore from Hooper, Utah; Tamika Smith, 5-6 freshman from Greeley, Colo.; and Mara Crouch, 5-2 freshman from Hillsdale, Mich.