Hector Salgado scored two goals and the Western Nebraska Community College men's soccer team registered a 6-2 Region IX South Conference win over Central Community College-Columbus Saturday afternoon at the Landers Soccer Complex.
WNCC's Daniel Matty said the team played well Saturday in igniting for six goals.
"We played really well and we finally gained some team chemistry from the defense and the midfield itself," Matty said. "Then Hector, when he came on the field, scored two goals which gave us a boost to get the rest of the goals. I thought the team played well overall."
Matty said the team knew the contest was not going to be easy after Northeastern Junior College beat Central-Columbus 2-0 on Friday. WNCC lost to NJC 10 days ago 6-0.
"It was in our mind [what Central did Friday at NJC] because NJC beat us by more than what they beat Central," Matty said. "It was in our minds and we had to go out there and prove to ourselves that we are the best team in the conference. That is what we did."
WNCC only held a 2-0 lead at halftime. Bernardo Torres netted the first goal off an assist from Ramses Atahualpa 18 minutes into the contest.
It stayed 1-0 until with 6:32 to play when Salgado booted his first goal off an Atahualpa assist. WNCC held a 2-0 lead at halftime.
The second half saw six goals booted between the two teams. WNCC grabbed a 4-0 lead as Atahualpa scored to make it 3-0 just four minutes into the second half. Silvio Xavier had the assist on the goal.
WNCC went up 4-0 as Salgado booted his second goal in the 65th minute off an assist from Leo Palomo.
The Raiders came back scoring two straight. The first came in the 67th minutes. Then, Central-Columbus sliced the lead in half as Edgar Romero took a penalty kick and found the back of the net with 17:04 to play.
Twenty seconds later, WNCC's Xavier was given a penalty kick and in no time at all, Xavier found the net for the 5-2 WNCC lead.
Minatare's Juan Garfio closed out the scoring as the sophomore took a pass from Atahualpa and made a run before sizzling the ball into the back of the net with 14:25 to play.
Central outshot WNCC 13-12. Central had eight shots on goal compared to six on frame for WNCC.
Leandro Paria went 59 minutes in net in making six saves while Viktar Kravets finished the game with two saves.
WNCC will be back in action next weekend when they face Trinidad State Junior College on Friday and Otero Junior College on Saturday. The women play at 1 p.m. followed by the men at 3 p.m.
Matty said these games are crucial.
"Those will be tough games. What we have to do is give everything we have and play our game," he said.