Cougar notes: WNCC men tie Otero on Saturday

               The Otero College men’s soccer team came into Saturday Region IX conference showdown with Western Nebraska Community College ranked 13^th in the NJCAA national polls with a 11-0-2 record. 

                The Cougars stymied the Otero offense and registered a 0-0 tie against the Rattlers to move to 6-3-3 overall and 4-2-2 in conference play with one conference contest left on October 14 at home against Laramie County Community College. 

                The words of advice from assistant coach Eseah Ingram to his team afterwards was to keep their head high because they might not have scored any goals, but they didn’t allow any either. 

                Saturday’s tie was a gutsy performance against the top team in Region IX as both teams’ defenses played exceptionally well. 

                WNCC goalkeeper Hernan Burdiles, who had six saves in net including a couple big second-half saves, said the team played well and he was proud of how his team played. 

                “We gelled defensively and we might have missed some balls, but we stayed disciplined in the game and made some good saves,” Burdiles said. “I am proud of my team. We have to keep working hard.” 

                The first half was very physical and in the second half, both teams were playing 10-on-10 after red cards late in the first half. 

                The second half was a very well-played match between both teams as both fought hard and played disciplined.  

                Burdiles said the team played well in the second half and just came up short on some shots. 

                “I think we did a good job in the second half with our effort of the team,” he said. “I think we did a good job.” 

                The first half didn’t have a lot of shots that could have went in. The second half was a different story as both teams had good shots on goal. 

                Just a couple minutes into the second half, WNCC’s Eduardo Oliveira had a shot that was saved by Otero’s goalkeeper. Oliveira had another shot with 32:40 to play when he took a freekick that went right to the goalkeeper. 

                Both teams kept shooting and Otero had a couple shots that were saved by Burdiles midway through the half. With 25 minutes to play, Maxime Niyibaho had a good shot on goal that went wide. A few minutes later, Oliveira had a shot that went high. 

                Otero had a free kick late in the game that just went high. 

                The battle finally ended after 90 minutes of play with a tie. 

                Oliveira had five shots in the contest with four on goal. 

                Both teams also had three corner kicks and both were offsides twice. 

                WNCC will have two matches next week to wrap up the regular season. On Wednesday, the Cougars will travel to Norfolk to take on Northeast Community College before hosting Laramie County Community College in a big contest that could decide seeds two through five for the regional playoffs.  

WNCC women play tough, fall to Otero 

                The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team knew Saturday’s contest was going to be a battle and the Cougars battled with Otero College for much of the match. In the end, the Cougars fell 7-3 in a high-scoring contest. 

                Lesley Vasquez, who had a goal and two assists in the contest, said the team played hard against a team that is second in the conference with a 7-1-1 conference mark and 9-1-1 overall. 

                “We had a couple struggles to mark with them,” Vasquez said. “They just marked the long balls in the first half. The second half we tightened up a little and we also got some goals.” 

                The final score is not indication of how hard the Cougar women played as they competed tooth-and-nail against a Rattler team that had plenty of speed in the striker position. 

                “I think the sophomores just have to take it in as a high mentality and just really know that it doesn’t indicate of how we played in the 7-3 loss,” Vasquez said. “It was just us playing with power with less girls than they do. It was just us going in with a different mentality.” 

                Otero got on the scoreboard first on back-to-back goals from Bello Omowunmi. The first game with 29:17 left in the opening half and the second came five minutes later. 

                WNCC sliced the Otero lead in half as Vasquez took a freekick with 3:57 left in the half and sent the long ball to the net the ball trickled past the goal line for the goal. Omowunmi came right back down and scored her third goal of the game with 2:47 left to go into halftime up 3-1. 

                Laura Garcia put Otero up 4-1 with a goal a couple minutes into the second half. That goal, however, still kept the Cougars mentality in check as Vasquez took another free kick and Maria Villagomez found the ball in the box and put it squarely into the net. 

                The two squads exchanged goals after that. With 32 minutes to play, Omowunmi scored her fourth goal for a 5-2 Otero lead. WNCC cut the deficit back to two when Tania Razo scored off an assist from Vasquez. 

                Otero closed out the game with two more goals as Celia Catalan scored in the 69 minute and then Laura Garcia scored in the 75^th minute. 

                The total shots were pretty equal as Otero won the shot battle 26-23.  

                WNCC goalkeeper Emily Villagomez had eight saves in net.  

                WNCC, 3-4-2 in conference and 4-5-3 overall, will wrap up the regular season on Saturday when they host Laramie County Community College at 1 p.m. LCCC is 6-3-3 overall and sitting third in the conference.