Tuesday, November 06, 2012

WNCC soccer teams fall to Otero on Oct. 20



                 [Oct. 20, 2012] The Western Nebraska men’s and women soccer teams were blanked by Otero Junior College on Saturday at the Landers Soccer Complex in the team’s final regular season contests.
                The Cougar women ended their season with a 6-0 loss to No. 11 Otero, who entered the contest with a 13-1 record after suffering its first defeat on Friday to Laramie County Community College 3-1.
                The Cougar men played without many starters because of yellow card infractions and suffered a 4-0 setback to the Rattlers. The Cougar men will enter the Region IX playoffs with a road game on Tuesday against Northwest College.
                WNCC women’s sophomore Laura James said this was a tough season for the ladies, but what she saw from the season was they always fought hard, despite not being able to score goals.
“There was no point in the season where we just gave up, we at least kept trying and telling ourselves to keep our heads up,” James said. “It [the season] didn’t end up the way we wanted, but sometimes that happens and we have to keep going. That is what we tried to do.”
                Saturday, playing in their final match of the season, the Cougars gave it all against an Otero team that came in with just one loss on the season and ranked No. 11 in the country. The Cougars fought to the end despite the score on the scoreboard.
                “I definitely can say we played pretty tough but the game didn’t end up the way we wanted,” she said. “The one good thing is every one tried their hardest and we definitely got a lot of yellow cards. We definitely didn’t give up in the matches this season so that was good.”
                Otero took a 4-0 lead at halftime as they netted two scores early. The first came off the foot of Susanna Abundiz, while the second was scored by Tori Slattery off an assist from Abundiz. The Rattlers added two more first-half goals as Abundiz scored her second of the game, before Baylee Lindsley scored in the 15th minutes.
                Otero added two more goals in the second half, the first coming just 13 minutes into the half as Erin Cortvriendt scored off a rebound. The final goal came with just six minutes left off the foot of Stephanie House.
                Otero outshot the Cougars 14-2 and held a 6-2 advantage on corner kicks. Patty Sylvester had six saves in net for the Cougars.
                James said playing her last soccer match for WNCC is bittersweet, but is hoping to continue playing at the next level.
                It is definitely bittersweet but I am excited to see if I can play someplace else,” she said. “I will definitely miss it here. I will miss Coach [Todd] Rasnic, the team, and all the friends that I have made. I was kind of sad on walking on the field for the last time but you have to move on because that is life.”
                The men’s contest didn’t go WNCC’s way either. The Cougar men were outshot 30-3. Otero went on top 2-0 at halftime as Danny Mibtelu score in the 31st minutes. Then, five minutes later, Santiago Alegjandro scored off an assist from Ramino Ceja.
                The Rattlers added two more goals in the second half, the first coming off a penalty kick off the foot of Noki Le just nine minutes into the half. The final goal of the contest was scored by Jacob Gonzales with 16 minutes to go.
                The Cougars Joey Rasnic and Justin Becerra split time in the net, each recording seven saves in net.

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