Western Nebraska Community College’s Rodrigo Cercal has never scored four goals in a match in his playing career. That came to an end Saturday afternoon as the sophomore from Joinville, Brazil, scored four goals to help the Cougar men to a 5-2 conference win over Northwest College.

“It (scoring four goals) was different. It was my personal record where I have never scored four times in a single game, so I just want to enjoy it and talk to my parents and family,” Cercal said. “Today we celebrate and tomorrow we get focused for our next game which will be another battle.”   

Cercal’s four goals ties a school record for most goals in a match. Cercal joined Jose Netto from 2011 and Lawan Abary from 2017 with four goals in a match.

While Cercal had four goals, he said it was important for them to get back on the winning track after falling 1-0 to Casper College on Friday in a very competitive match.

“We stayed composed with our effort and our attitude because yesterday (Friday) we had a tough loss, but today was a different game, a different attitude from the beginning of the game,” Cercal said. “So, it was a good team effort and that was the key for today.”

The big thing in the win, besides Cercal’s four goals, was the Cougar players picked up the offense as eight different players took shots on goal. Cercal said this team does have plenty of offense.

“Today we were able to move the ball quickly and apply the concepts that we have been practicing,” he said. “We did the job and we had five goals, so it was a pretty good job from the strikers.”

WNCC started the match as Cercal’s first shot went astray. WNCC then had back-to-back corner kicks that didn’t result in a goal. Cercal later had a shot that went wide. Finally, with 29:26 to play in the first half, Cercal took a pass from Tom Pelzer and scored as he beat the Northwest goalkeeper and had a wide-open shot.

Ten minutes later, Cercal scored again when he took a pass from Paul Cerros to make it 2-0. WNCC went up 3-0 with 17:47 when Rennan Sousa delivered a free kick and Cercal directed the header into the net.

Northwest made it 3-1 when Ricardo Farias da Silva scored on a penalty kick with 13:33 to play. A minute later, WNCC made it 4-1 as Matheus Nascimento took a pass from Gabriel Santos and scored as the ball hit the post and went in for the halftime score.

The defenses picked up in the second half as each team scored just once. WNCC didn’t score until 24:14 left to play to make it 5-1 as Cercal scored his fourth goal off an assist from Pelzer. 

The Cougar defense came close to pitching a shutout in the final half, but with 47 seconds to play, the goalkeeper slipped and left Farias de Silva wide open to bury the ball into the net, but it was too little, too late for the Trappers.

WNCC had 15 shots in the contest while the Trappers had 10. WNCC also won the corner kick battle 6-3. 

WNCC, 4-4 overall and 4-1 in conference play, will have next weekend off as their next match will be October 8 when they travel to Cheyenne, Wyoming to face Laramie County Community College

“That weekend off will be good because we have a bunch of players that are injured or not at 100%, so we are going to use that week to rest some players and get them at 100%,” Cercal said. “We will then go strong for the last three games. They will be battles against three good teams, so we need to be 100%.”

WNCC’s Lourenco scores hat trick in 7-6 win over Northwest

Western Nebraska Community College’s Sara Lourenco scored a hat trick and Aileen Perez had two goals as the Cougar women overcame a 3-1 halftime deficit to top Northwest College 7-6 in action Saturday afternoon at Lander’s Soccer Complex.

The seven goals scored on Saturday is the most since Sept. 1, 2019, when the Cougars scored 12 goals in a match against Dakota County Technical College.

Lourenco said the team played well, especially in the second half when they overcame that 3-1 deficit.

“We kept our heads up and didn’t give up. We played till the end,” the Colider, Brazil, native said. “The second half we were more motivated and decided to fight even with the score not being the best for us.”

When the two teams faced each other earlier this month, WNCC won 5-1, so when the Cougars trailed 3-1 at halftime on Saturday, it sort of lit a fire underneath them.

Lourenco wasn’t the only player to score a hat trick in the game. While Lourenco scored three second-half goals, Northwest’s Zoey Bonner had a hat trick in the first half.

Lourenco said that while she feels happy to have the hat trick, she is even happier to help the team to a win.

“I feel really happy about the goals because I’ve been working hard for it, but what makes me more happy is to be able to help the team to get the win,” she said.
Saturday’s win was a big confidence boost for the team after falling to Casper College on Friday 1-0 in overtime.

“Today’s game was really important for us because we were able to bring our confidence back,” Lourenco said. “So, I am really happy and grateful.”

WNCC started the match off with two quick shots that failed to go in, which was something that happened Friday afternoon where the Cougars couldn’t find the back of the goal. With 36:22 to play in the opening half, Vanessa Vasquez took a pass from Perez and found the back of the net for the 1-0 lead.

The lead only lasted five minutes as Northwest’s Bonner scored with 31:33 to play off a free kick to tie the match.

WNCC had chances to go ahead, but couldn’t find the net, including three straight corner kicks. Northwest went up 2-1 with 21:11 left in the half when Bonner scored once again. Bonner got her hat trick with 10:30 to play in the opening half off another free kick for the 3-1 halftime lead.

The first five minutes of the second half was nuts as the two teams scored four goals. The scoring all started when Perez took a pass from Tania Razo and found the net from inside the box.

A minute later, Perez scored again off a corner kick to tie the match at 3-3. WNCC went up 4-3 with four minutes gone in the opening half when she scored. Northwest tied the game at 4-4 when Quetzalli Penaloza took a pass from Torrington’s Kameron Stitt and scored with 40:06 left in the match.

Neither team scored again for the next 30 minutes and it seemed like the match would end up in overtime. That wasn’t the case as Northwest scored as Peyton Roswadovski scored on a penalty kick with 11 minutes to play.

The Trappers lead didn’t last long as Lourenco scored her first goal from just outside the box on the right side with 10 minutes to play. Lourenco put the Cougars up 6-5 just 17 seconds later when she took a pass from Vicky Granda and sent the ball into the net from about 30 yards out.

Lourenco got her hat trick with 7:04 to play as she scored from about the same spot as the previous goal for the 7-5 lead. Northwest made it a one-goal contest when Alexzia Garcia scored with 20.5 seconds to play.

WNCC out-shot the Trappers 29-13 and had four corners to three for the Trappers.

WNCC, 6-4 overall and 3-3 in conference play, will have next weekend off before they hit the road to face Laramie County Community College on Oct. 8 in Cheyenne, Wyoming.