The Western Nebraska Community College soccer teams will open the conference portion of their schedule this weekend at home when they play back-to-back contests on Friday and Saturday at the Landers Soccer Complex.
The Cougars women and men will start the conference portion of their schedule on Friday against Northwest College followed by a conference game against Central Wyoming College on Saturday. The women's matches are slated for 1 p.m. starts with the men's contests to start roughly around 3:30 p.m.
The conference games are doubly important this year as not only will it determine the seeding for the Region IX playoffs, but the winner (or the higher seed) will get to host the semifinals and finals of the Region IX tournament. So, if WNCC wants to host regionals, these conference games are important.
Hernan Burdiles, the WNCC men's soccer goalkeeper said the team is playing well after earning a tie with Southeast Community College at home on August 21.
"We need to be focused and play with high intensity from the first minute in addition to playing together as a team," Burdiles said.
The Northwest men come into the game at 4-2-1 while the Cougar men are 2-1-1 on the season after impressive wins over the weekend against Casper College 1-0 and Central Wyoming College 3-2.
Northwest tied Casper 1-1 on September 4 and defeated Central Wyoming College 5-1, so both teams look pretty equal. It is the first official conference match for both squads.
Burdiles said this team needs to be hungry for victory.
"We need to arrive hungry for victory," he said. "We to make our house respected and to do that the coaches say to be focused since these are two important games that can catapult us into a good season."
The men have picked up the base since that home tie with Southeast. In a scrimmage against South Dakota School of Mines, the team played well followed with the two win over the weekend that saw different people score goals.
"We are fine. We are coming off three important victories so we are at a good level and confident for what is to come," Burdiles said. "We have to keep improving game by game to meet our goals."
While the men will be playing their second home match of the year, the Cougar will be in front of the home crowd for the first time this season since their match with Southeast was canceled. The Cougar women are 1-1-1 on the season while Northwest enters with a 4-3 mark.
Freshman Ariel Veliz said this women's team has all the potential to do great things this season.
"Our defense is really strong this year," Veliz said. "We have a lot of talent this year out on the field and we are working hard on the field."
The Cougars also have several goal scorers this season and in Monday's 4-0 win over Central Wyoming, sophomore Tania Razo scored two goals and freshman Yasmin Urbina scored a goal with two assists. Urbina has scored a goal in all three of WNCC's matches this season.
Veliz said for the team to pick up wins this season, playing with intensity is vital.
"We need to play with high intensity like we did against Iowa Lakes," she said. "We also need to play as a family and remember to still have fun. We just need to come out with high intensity and communication."
The Cougar women have a couple of local players on the squad in Scottsbluff's Kate Larson and Torrington's Jade Brothwell. Two other players are playing for the Cougars after their siblings played for WNCC a few years ago. One of those was Veliz, whose brother, Adrian played for the men's team back in the 2016 and 2017 seasons, while Emilee Hunsley's sister Brittany played for the women's team in 2016 and 2017. Veliz is from Wellington, Colorado, while Hunlsey is from Spearfish, South Dakota.
After this weekend, the WNCC women will be back at home on Saturday, September 16 to face No. 13 Western Wyoming Community College at 1 p.m.