Photos of the contests can be found on the Cougar Photo Gallery
The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams used strong defense to open the home portion of their season with sweeps over Western Wyoming Community College Friday at the Landers Soccer Complex Friday afternoon.
The women snapped a 2-game losing skid in dropping the Mustangs 2-0, well the men defeated Western Wyoming 1-0 on a early goal by Scottsbluff’s Morgan Wall.
“Overall it was a good match for both teams,” WNCC soccer coach Todd Rasnic said. “In the men’s game, we had a lot of pressure and we out shot them 6-4. I wasn’t displeased with that. Certainly there was a little bit of luck on our side this evening.
“The women’s game was much the same. We got a late goal to make it 2-0. Again both [Western Wyoming] teams are stronger this year then they have been so we will have to continue to work hard. We are going to see them again [in the regular season] and we are going to see them again [probably at regionals]. We need to continue to improve as a team and that should help us maintain some strength in the region.”
Both squads will be back on the field at the Landers Complex Sunday when they host Iowa Western Community College. The women’s contest tips off at 11 a.m. against the No. 2 team in the nation, who has yet to be scored upon. The men’s contest follows. Iowa Western, however, will battle Western Wyoming today at the Lander’s Complex beginning at 11 a.m.
The Cougar women started the day off on a quick note as Ana Jacobo fed LeeAnna Paxton with a pass, in which she delivered into the back of the next seven minutes into the game. Neither team could find the net the rest of the half.
Both teams kept playing strong defense at the start of the second half. The Cougars, however, had plenty of near misses to pop in another score. The Mustangs, on the other hand, met up with a strong Cougar defense that held the Western Wyoming with out a shot for nearly 20 minutes. Western Wyoming’s best chance to score came with 2;30 left in the game, but Cougar goalkeeper Terri Huntington came up big.
By that time, though, the Cougar women had already added an insurance goal. With 4:27 left in the match, Jamie Gastelle received a corner kick from Jacobo and positioned within point-blank range of the net, headed the ball for the score as she was collided with.
Gastelle said that she didn’t see the ball go into the net on the score.
“Usually when I take a corner kick, I just watch the kicker and then I watch the ball and I try to position my head,” she said. “I think the ball came off my head because some other girl collided with me and I closed my eyes.”
The Cougar women had 13 shots on goal compared to eight for WWCC. Huntington recorded eight saves for the shutout win.
Gastelle said the women played well, but they will have to play better on Sunday.
“We did some really good combinations together and we communicated well,” the freshman from Ft. Collins, Colo., said. “But, we will have to play a lot better on Sunday. We will have to play to our best ability and we will have to work really hard for each other and get back on defense, communicate really well and get the ball up to the midfield quickly and take our shots.”
The Cougar men also had a good defensive effort in the win against Western Wyoming. The Cougars, just like the women, scored early and then shut down the Mustang offense for the win.
WNCC’s goal, which came 14 minutes into the match was a quick strike. Lazaro Torres dribbled the ball along the baseline and then fired a pass to Morgan Wall about 25 feet in front of the goal. Wall quickly hammered the ball straight into the net for the score.
WNCC had two prime scoring opportunities in the second half, one coming off a free kick, which sailed over the cross bar with 16 minutes left. Then, Nikko Ouzounis pushed the ball to within the box only to have his shot sail just right of the net.
The Cougars out shot the Mustangs 6-4. WNCC goalkeeper Cesar Bazana had four saves on the night.
WNCC will need even a better showing on Sunday when the Cougars host Iowa Western Community College. The women’s contest kicks off at 11 a.m. followed by the men’s contest at 1 p.m. Rasnic said the Reivers will be a challenge.
“We will have to put twice the games on the field on Sunday in both games,” he said. “The Iowa Western women are ranked No. 2 in the nation and they didn’t get that ranking for no reason. They are a quality team and a quality opponent and we will have to play our best game all season to compete with them and win. Same with the men. Their team is strong and traditionally they put a good team on the field so we have a lot of work to do. We understand that and we are working to become a better team and I think today we came out with two wins and that is the important thing as long as we see our mistakes and continue to improve as the season goes along.”
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