WNCC soccer teams drop matches to Barton County

It wasn’t the most perfect day for the Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams Saturday.

Barton County Community College came into Scottsbluff and shut down the Cougar’s offense in registering two victories. The Barton men came out on top 4-2, while the Barton women shut out the high-scoring Cougar women 2-0.

The WNCC women came into the contest having scored 25 goals in three matches, but on Saturday the team failed to find the back of the net while playing short a player for most of the second half plus losing a key scorer because of a knee injury.

WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said this is a match they must learn from, put behind and come out ready to play Wednesday when they host Region IX opponent Laramie County Community College.

“We certainly did not rise to the challenge today. We are going to shake it off and bounce back,” Rasnic said. “We have some big games coming up. Unfortunately we are going to be missing Stacey (Agnew) for one match and Tamika (Smith) is re-injured again. We are battling a lot of injuries. We don’t have Jess (Aragon) in the back with her knee injury from the last time we played Barton. We are plagued right now with injuries, hopefully we can bounce back as a team, put our best foot forward.

“It is a tough loss. I was frustrated. The team was frustrated. When you come out and having that kind of day, there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it. You just take it and move on.”

The Cougar women also battled the wind in the first half. Still, going against a stiff western wind, they found plenty of scoring opportunities. Bre Perkes just missed on a shot with 24 minutes left in the opening period when she took a shot on the left side and just missed going into the right side of the net.

In fact, for the game, Barton County out shot the WNCC women 10-5 with shots on goal.

In the second half, WNCC had the wind in their favor for a brief time until the wind shifted from the North causing an equal playing field for both teams. It didn’t take Barton long to score first as Renata Lecca stole the ball and went one-on-one with WNCC’s goal-keeper Terri Huntington and found the net less then three minutes into the second half.

A couple minutes later, WNCC received a red card violation and was forced to play the rest of the match a player short.

The score stayed that way until the 6:35 mark of the game when Lecca once again found the back of the net to put Barton up 2-0.

WNCC came back in a hurry and tried to get break the goose egg on the scoreboard. With just over six minutes to play, Perkes just went high on a good shot opportunity. The Cougar women also had three shots on goal with under two minutes to play, but neither one could buck the wind coming out of the northeast.

WNCC goalkeeper Huntington did have a good match, though, getting eight saves and stopping a number of Barton scoring opportunities. Huntington came up big, especially in the first half when the Kansas school had the wind in their favor, but stopping two shots at point-blank range.

While the wind was a factor for the women, the WNCC men also had to fight the wind in the first game of the day. Barton County, who had the wind in their favor in the first half, netted three first half goals to take a 3-0 halftime lead.

Barton’s Marcelo Carminatti scored the first two goals of the game, the first coming at the 31:45 mark of the half on a bicycle kick into the net. His second came less then a minute later off an assist by Oscar Narvaez. Narvaez scored the third goal of the half.

WNCC didn’t waste anytime scoring in the second half with the wind at their back. Just a minute into the half, Renato Segalla fired a free kick from about 40 yards out straight into the net.
WNCC continued their comeback slicing the lead to one, 3-2, with 16:27 to play when Chris Thompson recorded the goal off of some nifty footwork. Edwin Enriquez started the combination by delivering a pass to Geoff Critzer, who passed it to Morgan Wall. Wall then feeded Thompson for a point-blank shot.

That was as close as WNCC got as Barton County added an insurance goal with 2 minutes to play on a goal by Jose Reza.

Both teams had six shots on goal, while Barton County won the corner kick battle 3-1.

WNCC will have little time to recoup their defeats as both will host Laramie County Community College on Wednesday. The men will play at 3 p.m. and the women at 5 p.m. For the Cougar women, though, Rasnic said they will have little time on the practice field with a flurry of matches this week.

“We have Laramie County on Wednesday and then we will be leaving on Thursday for the Butler County tourney,” he said. “We are in a situation where we will need to get some players back or it will be a long three or four games. Hopefully, we can get back on a roll.”

It wasn’t the most perfect day for the Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams Saturday.

Barton County Community College came into Scottsbluff and shut down the Cougar’s offense in registering two victories. The Barton men came out on top 4-2, while the Barton women shut out the high-scoring Cougar women 2-0.

The WNCC women came into the contest having scored 25 goals in three matches, but on Saturday the team failed to find the back of the net while playing short a player for most of the second half plus losing a key scorer because of a knee injury.

WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said this is a match they must learn from, put behind and come out ready to play Wednesday when they host Region IX opponent Laramie County Community College.

“We certainly did not rise to the challenge today. We are going to shake it off and bounce back,” Rasnic said. “We have some big games coming up. Unfortunately we are going to be missing Stacey (Agnew) for one match and Tamika (Smith) is re-injured again. We are battling a lot of injuries. We don’t have Jess (Aragon) in the back with her knee injury from the last time we played Barton. We are plagued right now with injuries, hopefully we can bounce back as a team, put our best foot forward.

“It is a tough loss. I was frustrated. The team was frustrated. When you come out and having that kind of day, there isn’t a whole lot you can do about it. You just take it and move on.”

The Cougar women also battled the wind in the first half. Still, going against a stiff western wind, they found plenty of scoring opportunities. Bre Perkes just missed on a shot with 24 minutes left in the opening period when she took a shot on the left side and just missed going into the right side of the net.

In fact, for the game, Barton County out shot the WNCC women 10-5 with shots on goal.

In the second half, WNCC had the wind in their favor for a brief time until the wind shifted from the North causing an equal playing field for both teams. It didn’t take Barton long to score first as Renata Lecca stole the ball and went one-on-one with WNCC’s goal-keeper Terri Huntington and found the net less then three minutes into the second half.

A couple minutes later, WNCC received a red card violation and was forced to play the rest of the match a player short.

The score stayed that way until the 6:35 mark of the game when Lecca once again found the back of the net to put Barton up 2-0.

WNCC came back in a hurry and tried to get break the goose egg on the scoreboard. With just over six minutes to play, Perkes just went high on a good shot opportunity. The Cougar women also had three shots on goal with under two minutes to play, but neither one could buck the wind coming out of the northeast.

WNCC goalkeeper Huntington did have a good match, though, getting eight saves and stopping a number of Barton scoring opportunities. Huntington came up big, especially in the first half when the Kansas school had the wind in their favor, but stopping two shots at point-blank range.

While the wind was a factor for the women, the WNCC men also had to fight the wind in the first game of the day. Barton County, who had the wind in their favor in the first half, netted three first half goals to take a 3-0 halftime lead.

Barton’s Marcelo Carminatti scored the first two goals of the game, the first coming at the 31:45 mark of the half on a bicycle kick into the net. His second came less then a minute later off an assist by Oscar Narvaez. Narvaez scored the third goal of the half.

WNCC didn’t waste anytime scoring in the second half with the wind at their back. Just a minute into the half, Renato Segalla fired a free kick from about 40 yards out straight into the net.
WNCC continued their comeback slicing the lead to one, 3-2, with 16:27 to play when Chris Thompson recorded the goal off of some nifty footwork. Edwin Enriquez started the combination by delivering a pass to Geoff Critzer, who passed it to Morgan Wall. Wall then feeded Thompson for a point-blank shot.

That was as close as WNCC got as Barton County added an insurance goal with 2 minutes to play on a goal by Jose Reza.

Both teams had six shots on goal, while Barton County won the corner kick battle 3-1.

WNCC will have little time to recoup their defeats as both will host Laramie County Community College on Wednesday. The men will play at 3 p.m. and the women at 5 p.m. For the Cougar women, though, Rasnic said they will have little time on the practice field with a flurry of matches this week.

“We have Laramie County on Wednesday and then we will be leaving on Thursday for the Butler County tourney,” he said. “We are in a situation where we will need to get some players back or it will be a long three or four games. Hopefully, we can get back on a roll.”