The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team is still riding a high after capturing the program’s second Region IX championship in its five year history. That high got a little higher after the National Junior College Athletic Association polls were released Wednesday morning and the team found themselves ranked among the top 15 in the nation after capturing the Region IX championship on Sunday.
The players and coaches are basking in the glory for now, but they realize they still have plenty of work to do to accomplish the rest of their goals of qualifying for the national tournament.
“I think they have worked hard this year and I think we were very close of being ranked in several circumstances of being ranked earlier this year,’ WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said. “Rankings to me mean very little; it is how we finish the season that makes the big difference. I think they have done a great job of winning the Region IX playoffs, but we still have some road blocks in the way of what we are trying to achieve this year. This, however, is a big thing of achieving a national ranking. It is something we wanted to do as a team. I think it is something that will make them feel good and it is certainly nice to be recognized for your achievements. I certainly believe they are in the top 15 in the nation and I thought all year. We still have some work to do before we can start glorifying about those type of things.”
Sophomore Mara Crouch said it is exciting to be a part of a team that is bringing winning back to the soccer program.
“We have been waiting to be ranked all year. I think we can go far,” the defender from Hillsdale, Mich., said. “We all knew we could go this far; it just took that game [the Region IX championship] to win to be a reality. Our team really did think we could go pretty far this season.”
The next stop for the women’s team is the district playoffs slated for Nov. 7-8 in Overland Park, Kan. The Cougars, 11-6-1, will face North Idaho College on Nov. 7 with the winner facing the winner of the Kansas region on Nov. 8. The district winner will be one of eight teams to qualify for the national tournament Nov. 20-23 in Chandler, Ariz.
“We have to win the district title to move on,” Rasnic said. “We have two games where if we lose just one game we are coming home. Our focus right now is not necessarily on us winning the Region IX tournament or whether we are nationally ranked, but it is basically focused on how we are going to put a game on the field against North Idaho College that is better than they play. That is really what we are going to maintain as we go along.”
Crouch and the rest of the players are excited to be playing soccer in November. The last time that happened for the women’s team was in 2003 when the Cougars fell in the District championship game to Dixie State College 3-0, after topping Butler County Community College 2-1 in overtime to open districts. It was the team’s only defeat that season.
“It is indescribable, really. LCCC was the best team to have beaten in the regional tournament,” Crouch said. “All the sophomores have been trying to beat that team since last year.”
The ranking is something special for the Cougar women’s soccer program. The team hasn’t been ranked since the program inaugural season in 2003. That year the team finished ranked No. 8 in the final regular season polls. Rasnic said that he knew all along that this team has the potential for greatness.
“Once I saw where we were down in matches and had the ability to come back for wins, I knew we turned the corner as a team,” he said. “I think we are in a position now where we will continue to play that way. I could be wrong. Certainly the ladies have to come out with the same drive and determination to continue to keep that same consistent play that they have been doing. We are hoping they can do that.”
The women’s soccer team has played five teams that are ranked either in the top 15 or received honorable mention votes this week, coming away with a 2-4-1 record against ranked opponents. WNCC topped No. 15 Barton County Community College 3-1 and also topped No. 11 Laramie County Community College 3-1 in the regional title contest as well as tying their Region IX foes 2-2 earlier this year on the road.
Darton College out of Albany, Ga., is the top ranked women’s soccer team with a 17-0 record followed by Navarro College at 16-0, Polk Community College at 11-3-1, Young Harris College at 14-1-1, and Lewis & Clark Community College at 17-1.
Other schools that WNCC faced in the rankings include No. 7 Iowa Western Community College, No. 10 Paradise Valley Community College and Butler County Community College, who received honorable mention votes.
“I think it is nice to be ranked, but I certainly would like to be ranked No. 1 at the end of the season. That is every coach’s goal,” Rasnic said. “I have been a bit realistic [in setting goals in the past]. I have never set goals as high as what we have set for this season with any of my teams here at WNCC. I think if we can continue to work hard, we might actually move up in those rankings.”
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