PUEBLO, Colo. – The Western Nebraska Community College men's soccer team had to go on the road for the first round of the Region IX tournament to face Trinidad State Junior College.
WNCC, who was the No. 5 seed in the regional tournament, pulled the upset in topping No. 4 Trinidad State with a 2-1 overtime win over the Trojans.
The win advances the Cougars to the semifinals on Saturday in Denver against No. 1 seed Laramie County Community College at 4:30 p.m. The other semifinal will pit Northeastern Junior College against Otero Junior College at 7 p.m. The winners advance to the finals on Nov. 3 at Metro State in Denver.
Saturday's contest was a defensive contest. Both teams netted a goal in the first half. Trinidad State struck first when Guilherme Caldas just 15 minutes into the match to lead 1-0.
WNCC answered the goal moments later when Hector Salgado scored the tying goal in the 29th minutes. Neither team scored again the rest of the half to enter intermission knotted at 1-1.
The second half saw both defense step up to hold their opponents from scoring despite several scoring chances. WNCC had a cornerkick late in the second half that they couldn't convert to send the two teams into overtime.
It took nearly the entire 10-minute overtime period before WNCC scored the game-winner as sophomore Omar Sissoko scored to send the Cougars into the semifinals.
WNCC outshot Trinidad 12-9 in the contest. Trinidad State won the cornerkick battle 5-1.
WNCC's Richard Gutierrez recorded two saves in net.
The win moves the Cougars to 10-6 on the season.
Other games in the first round saw Laramie County top Central CC-Columbus 2-0, NJC topping Sheridan 5-0, and Otero topping Gillette 4-1.