WNCC women tie Garden City, men fall to Dodge City

DODGE CITY, Kan. – The Western Nebraska Community College men’s and women’s soccer teams had different outcomes in their matches on Sunday.

The Cougar men fell to Dodge City Community College 1-0 as the Conquistadors scored in the 89^th minute for the win. The Cougar women had a little bit better luck, tying Garden City Community College 0-0 in double overtime.

In both contests, the teams didn’t have a huge offensive output, said WNCC coach Todd Rasnic. The women, however, had the best chances of scoring as they hit a number of shots that bounced off the posts. Rasnic said sometimes you have to be a little lucky.

“We had several scoring chances that we just blew,” he said. “In overtime, we had a good shot that went off the cross bar. We had a couple in the game as well. It was just a combination of low numbers and just getting a bit unlucky. I think the girls proved that they were going to play with some heart. I was pretty happy with some of the non-starters that stepped up and played really well.”

Rasnic said that in the overtime period, sophomore Amairani Peregrina took a pass from a mid-fielder, beat an outside defender and went one-on-one with the keeper.

“She had a nice shot that just inched a little high on the crossbar,” he said. “In addition, we played on turf, which takes a little while to adjust to. “

Overall, Rasnic said the girls played well in getting the tie.

“The girls played pretty good. We were just struggling offensively,” he said. “For various reasons, we also played the game with just 12 players, so we had one sub and they had a roster of 20 players. They ran us a lot. I thought we played well to the very end because our fitness is really good.”

Rasnic said that if they would face Garden City again, they would come out on top.

“I think if we had to play the game again, we would come out on top,” he said. “We were missing several of our starters this weekend including missing almost our entire starting midfield. That hurt us quite a bit.”

The guys lost a heartbreaker once again, falling in the 89^th minute of the contest. It was also the third start match that the Cougars have failed to score a goal. Previously they lost to Cloud County 1-0 and Otero Junior College 3-0.

Rasnic said that the offense has been inconsistent.

“We lost in the 89^th minute and that has been the story of the last few seasons,” he said. “We defend really well and we have a pretty solid defense, but offensively we have struggled. We have struggled through the middle and up top to really produce any offense that is quality. Hopefully we can get to a point where everybody is linking up well between the defense, the midfield and the forwards, and we can start connecting a little bit better.”

The Cougars will have little time to sulk on their weekend performances as they have a big Region IX battle against Laramie County Community College on Wednesday at the Landers Soccer Complex. The men’s game kicks off at 2 p.m. followed by the women’s game at 4 p.m.

“I told the boys last week that if you don’t get things turned around quickly, since the season is short, you will see a lot of 1-0 losses,” Rasnic said. “Hopefully, we will see some improvement and we will work on different things in training to help us this week.”