WNCC men's soccer falls 4-0 to Otero

The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team put themselves in some must-win up-coming Region IX matches after suffering a 4-0 loss to Otero Junior College Wednesday at the Landers Soccer Complex.

The Cougars fell to 1-4 in Region IX play while the Rattlers, a first-year program, sit on top of the standings at 4-0-1. Only the top four teams make the Region IX Playoffs that begin Oct. 23 in Scottsbluff. Western Wyoming Community College, at 0-4-1 in conference play, is currently in fifth place and the odd-team out of the playoffs

What makes the playoff race interesting is the Cougars and the Mustangs play each other twice this season, Saturday in Scottsbluff and then Oct. 16 in Rock Springs, Wyo. A win Wednesday could have kept the Cougars’ hopes alive for one of the top two seeds. Now, it is a survival to just get to the playoffs.

“These upcoming Region IX games are critical. We have to beat Western Wyoming twice and Northwest College once and to me, they are must wins,” WNCC coach Todd Rasnic said. “We need to win in order to be one of the top four seeds to get into the playoffs. We have the talent, we have the players, we have the right mix of boys out here playing; the problem is we are not focused at playing at the right speed right know. We have to get more aggressive, more physical in the game. Some of it is that we have a large group of freshmen having to adjust to the game at this level, but those days should be gone now. We are halfway through the season and they should be adjusted and ready to play at this level.”

Wednesday, the Cougars played a complete second half. The problem was that that Otero did the damage in the first half, scoring three goals to take a commanding 3-0 lead at halftime. It didn’t take the Rattlers long either to get on the score board as 11 minutes into the game, Cartu Palombo put the ball into the net.

The Cougars held the Rattlers, 7-1-1 down in the majority of the first half after giving up the early goal. Otero finally broke that ice as Alex Fernandez nailed a penalty kick with 7:21 left in the opening half for a 2-0 lead. Otero added another goal with 1:26 left in the first half as Adrian Carrillo took a pass from Aaron De La Cruz for another goal.

The second half saw a different Cougar team come out to play; a team that was more determined. The difference in the halves for WNCC was obvious; in the first half the Cougars managed just three shots while in the second half they had five shots.

Still, the Cougars couldn’t find the back of the net. Otero also had trouble scoring in the second half except for one goal, which came with 3:22 to play as Jose Gallarza took a pass from Fernandez.

Rasnic said the inconsistency in halves has been the story to their season all year.

“We are really working hard to get the guys to play both halves the same way because the game momentum is lost too quickly when you come out and play flat in the first half,” he said. “It has been story of our season so far and we are over halfway through the season already. If we want to be a team that gets a few more wins this season, we need to figure it out quickly.

“This team needs to learn how to be consistent with their effort on the field. Honestly, we are not losing because of skill; we are losing because of effort right now.”

The Cougars, 3-8 overall, have two more regular season home match left. WNCC will host Western Wyoming on Saturday with the women’s contest starting at 11 a.m. with the men’s match to follow. WNCC will then follow that when Iowa Western Community College comes to Landers Soccer Complex on Monday with the women’s match starting at 10 a.m. and the men’s match to follow.