The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team will be sending nine players to the next level to institutions in the Midwest from Nebraska to Texas to Florida.

                The nine players signed is the largest class of men’s soccer players heading to the 4-year level in one year to continue playing college soccer.

                The nine players that inked last week include Paul Cerros and Rennan Sousa to Wayland Baptist University in Plainview, Texas; Paulo Henrique to Florida National University, an NAIA school in Hialeah, Florida; Rodrigo Cercal to William Carey University in Hattiesburg, Mississippi; Alex Alarcon to Kansas Wesleyan University, a NAIA program in Salina, Kansas; Tom Pelzer to Missouri Valley College an NAIA school in Marshall, Missouri; Dante Rafaela to Bellevue University, in NAIA school just outside of Omaha; Matheus Nascimento to Midland University, a NAIA school in Fremont; and Gabriel Santos to Southwestern Christian University in Bethany, Oklahoma, the NAIA school where they finished third at the NCCAA national tournament.

                The nine have been an instrumental part of the WNCC men’s soccer program the last two seasons on the field and off the field in being guiding figures at the college and the community.

                Nascimento summed up what it meant for the entire sophomore class to be at WNCC the past two or three years and now they are heading to the next level as one of the college’s largest soccer signing class.

                “We appreciate all the time we spent with you guys here. We all came here at the same time and it was different with COVID and most of the people up here (the sophomores) were supposed to come here before that. We have been through a lot of anxiety about that,” he said. “This accomplishment right now means a lot for us to finish up a cycle and now we have another one. I am really excited about my journey and so are my teammates and I hope they can go down their paths and find their goals and what they want to do for life. I want to thank everyone here that we appreciate your time.”

                Cerros, one of those players that spent three seasons at WNCC in logging in 39 games and scoring three goals with six assists, said they put in a lot of hard work to accomplish these dreams of playing at the next level. Cerros was not only a standout on the field, but also earned NJCAA First Team Academic honors, was on the President’s List with a 4.0 GPA, and a member of Phi Theta Kapa.

                “We are really thankful to be here. We have coach and we have new assistant coaches throughout the year, too, and we appreciate all the hard work that you guys do and hope you appreciated the hard work that we did as well,” Cerros, from Rifle High School in Colorado, via way of Chihuahua, Mexico, said. “It was a fun time at WNCC. We had some struggles and we had a lot of fun times. But, I think it is time to say goodbye to this area and move on to a better one to chase our dreams and to keep fighting for what is next.”

                Cerros will be attending Wayland Baptist, NAIA school, with his teammate Sousa, who was also a strong on the field and in the classroom with a 3.8 GPA and also a member of Phi Theta Kappa.

                These nine players have left a mark on the community in so many ways. Four of this year’s sophomore class have been at the college three years because of the COVID pandemic while some have been here two seasons.

                This past fall, the Cougars finished with a 4-7-1 record while two years ago they were 8-6-2. Several of the players earned special honors this past year including Cercal, who was named the Region IX Most Valuable player. Cercal was also the Freshman of the Year two years ago.

                Others that received Region IX honors this season included Cercal as a First Team Forward, Pelzer as a Second Team Defender; and freshman Samuel Acosta as a honorable mention defender.

                Cercal leaves WNCC as the all-time career goal scorer, having scored 29 goals in his two years. He is also tied with most career points of 62 points with his assistant coach Silvio Xavier. Cercal will be attending William Carey University, the NAIA national runner-ups who finished with a 13-3-3 record.

                Pelzer, a defender from Bad Sackingen, Germany, finished his 2-year Cougar career with six assists. Pelzer will be attending Missouri Valley, a program that finished 15-5-1 a year ago, and he spoke for the team about his and time here and what it will be like when they have to say goodbye in May.

                “I think since we all came here at the same time, all the soccer sophomores and not only soccer but the other sports’ sophomores, we made a lot of friends here,” Pelzer said. “It was great to meet everyone that came from different places; it was like building a family here. I think for me and others I have spoken to, it will be really hard to part our ways in six weeks and probably never see each other again but maybe once or twice. Like I said, for me, it will be hard. For all the sophomores here, we were are building a family here over those two years. Those connections will stay forever. I hope to see you all sometime.”