The Western Nebraska Community College men's soccer team tied a school record with most wins in a season after getting by Gillette College 2-1 at the Landers Soccer Complex in the team's final regular season contest.
The Cougars picked up win number 11, tying the most wins in one season that was set back in the inaugural 2003 season when the Cougars went 11-5.
Scottsbluff graduate and WNCC sophomore Patrick Madden said tying the school record for most wins in a season is a big accomplishment.
"Coach talked about that and for to the team, I think it is a huge accomplishment and it means a lot and shows how much we have been working this year," Madden said. "It shows the talent level of the guys in the fact that they can get in front of the goal and finish shots off and the defense able to keep shape and stop other teams from scoring. It also shows how hard we work on the field to pick up those wins. It is an awesome accomplishment for the team."
Saturday's game was also sophomore recognition and the Cougars battled the wind and chilly temperatures in picking up the win. Madden said the team did what they had to get the win.
"We had to come out playing hard because when we don't, we usually end up going down early," Madden said. "Today we didn't start our normal lineup because it was sophomore day and I thought the guys that don't normally play stepped up when they needed to and we started the first half pretty well. Then the starters came on and finished the job. Everybody played a good game today."
WNCC started all nine sophomores in the game and the team hung tough with Gillette in the first half. WNCC had a prime scoring chance late in the first half when Felipe Torres took a show and Gillette goalkeeper made a stretching one-handed save to knock the ball away.
The second half saw WNCC have the wind and they took advantage of the wind early. Alan Pinho had a free kick from about 40 feet out and launched the ball that sailed right into the net with 32:00 minutes left to play.
WNCC missed on a couple prime scoring changes after that. Those misses gave Gillette a chance as Gillette came back to tie the game with 5:45 to play on a goal by Donovan Odier. The Cougars immediately stopped the momentum as they scored 45 seconds later as Lawan Abary took a pass from Torres and scored his 18th goal of the season with five minutes to play for the lead.
"It is disappointing that they ended up scoring, but it is great that we can come back out in the next 30 seconds and pick up a big goal to get the win," Madden said. "We knew that the Gillette game wasn't that important of a game because it was a south conference game, but it was our 11th win which was one of our goals. I am glad that we were able to respond quickly and get the win when we needed to."
WNCC, 11-5, will now start Region IX playoff time next Saturday at home. Pairings and times will come out Monday.
"We are going to come out and work hard," Madden said. "We all are super excited to host a playoff game. It means a lot to how hard we worked so we are ready to come out and work hard and keep doing what we are doing this season and hopefully we can move on in the playoffs."
For Madden, who was one of four Scottsbluff High graduates that earned a start on Saturday for sophomore appreciation, it is starting to set in that their long string of playing at Landers Complex is about to come to an end.
"It is kind of sad. You grew up with the same guys and we have plenty of stories that we just go out and play with other," he said. "It I a little bit sad knowing that we won't be able to go out and play every day like before. Us four are pretty close because we grew up in the same town. It is sad our time is coming to an end, but we made plenty of great memories along the way."