NORFOLK – The Western Nebraska Community College men's soccer team hit the road for a Wednesday afternoon contest against Northeast Community College in Norfolk and battled the undefeated and NJCAA Division II top-ranked team to the end before falling 3-0.
Northeast entered the contest at 15-0 and had their hands full against a determined Cougar team. The Hawks held a slim 1-0 lead at halftime.
Northeast got on the scoreboard first, scoring just eight minutes into the contest when Sergio Azhar scored off an assist from Edouard Nys.
After that goal, the Cougars shut down the Hawk offense and went into halftime down 1-0.
The second half saw Nys score Northeast's second goal off an assist from Tom Hennah in the 58th minute for a 2-0 lead. The final goal for the Hawks came in the 82nd minute when Lewis Rourke scored off an Aleksander Pedersen assist.
WNCC managed just three shots in the contest compared to 31 shots for Northeast. WNCC also gave up 10 corner kicks while not getting a corner kick of their own.
WNCC utilized both goalkeepers in the contest. Hernan Burdiles had 10 saves in net while Joao Bisneto tallied three saves.
WNCC's shots came from Kenny Morales, Simon Echeverry, and Jhordy Solares.
WNCC, 6-4-3, will wrap up the regular season on Saturday when they host Laramie County Community College at 3:30 p.m. at the Landers Soccer Complex. The contest will follow the Cougar women's conference match against Laramie County. Both contests will be sophomore recognition day for the Cougar sophomores.