The Western Nebraska Community College men's soccer team advanced to the semifinals of the Region IX playoffs with a hard-fought 2-1 win over Laramie County Community College Saturday afternoon at the Landers Soccer Complex in Scottsbluff.

                WNCC, 8-4-3 overall, advances to play No. 1 seed Otero College this weekend in the semifinals. The other first-round contest had Casper College earning a 2-0 win over Northeastern Junior College. Casper will travel to play No. 2 Northwest College.

                Lucas Ovalle, who had the second goal for the Cougars which proved to be the game winner, said this was a big win for his Cougar team.

                "We played so well. We played like teammates," The freshman from Chile said. "I am really proud of my teammates."

                Samuel Acosta, who was celebrating his birthday on Saturday, couldn't have asked for a better birthday present. He said his team played hard and stayed focused to get the win."

                "We played really hard. We played together and we are like a family," Acosta said. "We are now going to the semifinals."

                Acosta said it has been 20 years since the men's team has won a regional title and they want to have a chance at bringing up a trophy. The WNCC men last won a title in 2003, which was the first year of soccer at the college. But, the team can't worry about that because they have to concentrate on their next opponent, Otero, and work hard just like they did Saturday.

                "We need to play like we did here today (Saturday)," Acosta said. "I know at WNCC it has been 20 years ago since they were champions and we want to be champions again."

                The key in the contest was getting a goal in the first half and then when Ovalle scored the second goal, it proved to be the winner.

                "It was really nice when I scored it, but I am more happy with the win by the team than my performance," Ovalle said.

                The defense had to battle hard in the contest, especially in the second half as LCCC had 11 shots in the second half compared to just one in the first. Ovalle said the defense played well.

                WNCC controlled the offensive side in the first half with a dumber of shots in the first 10 minutes but neither would go into the net. WNCC kept peppering the net and it wasn't until the final minute of the half that the Cougars scored.

                With about a minute to play, WNCC's Simon Echeverry took the ball to the box and was fouled. Eduardo Oliveira took the penalty kick with a minute to play and found the back of the net for the 1-0 going into halftime.

                The second half saw LCCC come out with a different energy as they had two good shots to score within the first 10 minutes, but both shots went either high or wide. WNCC finally added an insurance goal with 9:31 to play when Ovalle scored an unassisted goal on a 25-foot shot.

                That goal was important as LCCC came down the field and as Gael Hernandez played a cross to Brandon Young who finished the ball into the net with five minutes to play.

                LCCC kept playing hard and had a couple good chances to score with under two minutes to play, but the Cougar defense stepped to stop the goals including WNCC goal keeper Hernan Burdiles, who had a couple big saves.

                Burdiles had five saves in net while LCCC keeper Adan Herrera had four saves.

                WNCC had 11 shots in the contest compared to 12 for LCCC.