The Otero College men's soccer team came into Saturday Region IX conference showdown with Western Nebraska Community College ranked 13th in the NJCAA national polls with a 11-0-2 record.
The Cougars stymied the Otero offense and registered a 0-0 tie against the Rattlers to move to 6-3-3 overall and 4-2-2 in conference play with one conference contest left on October 14 at home against Laramie County Community College.
The words of advice from assistant coach Eseah Ingram to his team afterwards was to keep their head high because they might not have scored any goals, but they didn't allow any either.
Saturday's tie was a gutsy performance against the top team in Region IX as both teams' defenses played exceptionally well.
WNCC goalkeeper Hernan Burdiles, who had six saves in net including a couple big second-half saves, said the team played well and he was proud of how his team played.
"We gelled defensively and we might have missed some balls, but we stayed disciplined in the game and made some good saves," Burdiles said. "I am proud of my team. We have to keep working hard."
The first half was very physical and in the second half, both teams were playing 10-on-10 after red cards late in the first half.
The second half was a very well-played match between both teams as both fought hard and played disciplined.
Burdiles said the team played well in the second half and just came up short on some shots.
"I think we did a good job in the second half with our effort of the team," he said. "I think we did a good job."
The first half didn't have a lot of shots that could have went in. The second half was a different story as both teams had good shots on goal.
Just a couple minutes into the second half, WNCC's Eduardo Oliveira had a shot that was saved by Otero's goalkeeper. Oliveira had another shot with 32:40 to play when he took a freekick that went right to the goalkeeper.
Both teams kept shooting and Otero had a couple shots that were saved by Burdiles midway through the half. With 25 minutes to play, Maxime Niyibaho had a good shot on goal that went wide. A few minutes later, Oliveira had a shot that went high.
Otero had a free kick late in the game that just went high.
The battle finally ended after 90 minutes of play with a tie.
Oliveira had five shots in the contest with four on goal.
Both teams also had three corner kicks and both were offsides twice.
WNCC will have two matches next week to wrap up the regular season. On Wednesday, the Cougars will travel to Norfolk to take on Northeast Community College before hosting Laramie County Community College in a big contest that could decide seeds two through five for the regional playoffs.