The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team controls their own destiny after going into sole position of the top spot in the Region IX standings after games this weekend.
                The Cougar men went 1-0-1 on the weekend and it puts them a half-game in front of Laramie County Community College in the standings with three conference games to play before the Region IX playoffs begin.
                WNCC started the weekend with a 3-0 win over Trinidad State College on Friday and then earned a 1-1 tie with Otero College Saturday evening. WNCC is 5-0-1 in the conference while LCCC is   5-1. The Cougars are 6-3-2 overall while LCCC is 8-2.
                Next Saturday will be the defining match as WNCC travels to Cheyenne, Wyoming, to face Laramie County with the winner taking the lead in getting one of the two byes in the Region IX playoffs and a chance to host a semifinal match October 26.
                Friday’s win was one where they Cougars scored three second-half goals to earn the 3-0 win.
                Just three minutes into the second half, Alvaro Abeal took a pass from Anthony Lemus for the 1-0 lead. A minute later, Lemus scored to make it 2-0 after taking a pass from Guilherme Lindolfo.
                WNCC made it 3-0 when Paul Denz had an unassisted goal.
                WNCC had 12 shots in the contest to just two for the Trojans.
                Owen Henderson had three saves in net for the Cougars.
                Saturday’s contest was a defensive battle with not a lot of scoring but a lot of shots.
                Both teams scored a goal in the first half. Otero scored first in the 23rd minute on a goal by Breno Andreucci. WNCC tied the match in the 40th minute when Maxime Niyibaho scored an unassisted goal.
                Neither team scored in the second half. Otero had 12 shots on goal while WNCC had nine.
                Henderson had five saves in net for the Cougars.
 
WNCC women split a pair of conference games over the weekend
 
                The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team split contests in southern Colorado over the weekend.
                The Cougars opened the trip with a 6-0 win over Trinidad State College on Friday where Yasmin Urbina and Danae Montalvo had two goals each in the win.
                WNCC wrapped up the weekend in falling to Otero College 3-o on Saturday.
                The Cougars are still in the hunt for a playoff spot as the top six teams make the playoffs. WNCC is sitting seventh in the conference standings, at 3-3-1 just one win out of sixth spot and earning a playoff spot.
                WNCC has three conference games left and two are against teams that are in the top four of the standings. The Cougars will travel to Laramie County Community College on Saturday for a key contest against the Golden Eagles at 3 p.m. LCCC is 4-2-1 in conference and 6-4-2 overall.
                After that, the Cougars regular season final games will be Oct. 11 and 12 when they travel to face Northwest College and Central Wyoming College. Central Wyuoming is right behind WNCC in the conference standings, while Northwest is sitting third in the race at 4-2.
                The win against Trinidad was huge as the Cougars scored four first-half goals and never were in a position to lose the game.
                The Cougars’ Stephanie Villagomez scored first in the 13th minutes on an unassisted goal.
                WNCC then got back-to-back penalty kick goals 10 minutes apart. Danae Montalvo got the first PK 20 minutes into the contest and then Yasmin Urbina that the next PK 30 minutes into the contest.
                Mariah Russel closed out the first-half scoring with a goal in the 40th minute for the 4-0 halftime lead.
                WNCC scored two more goals in the second half. Montalvo scored in the 70th minute off an assist from Ariel Veliz to make it 5-0 and then Urbina netted her second goal of the game in the 85th minute off an assist from Alejandra Rodriguez.
                WNCC had 20 shots in the contest while Trinidad had zero shots.
                Saturday’s Otero match was competitive as the Cougars fought hard against Otero. The Rattlers had a 1-0 halftime lead after Juliana Kottbauer scored just two minutes into the contest. After that, the Cougars defense kept the Rattlers had bay the rest of the first half.
                The second half saw Otero go up 2-0 five minutes into the contest on a goal by Nevean Pritchard and then added an insurance goal in the 84th minute on a goal by Arieth Martin.
                WNCC had two shots in the match while Cougar goalkeeper Emily Villagomez had five saves in net.