The Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team went six matches without scoring a goal but that streak came to an end in the last regular season match at Landers Soccer Complex on Saturday.

                The Cougars, who have been struggling finding the net, scored in the first half, but it wasn't enough as the WNCC women fell to the Gillette College Pronghorns 4-1 in action Saturday.

                "We actually played really well," sophomore Morgan Smith said. "We have struggled offensively this season and I think we really picked up our game and pushed Gillette's defense."

                Smith was the Cougar that scored and the goal was special as it was Smith's first collegiate goal in two seasons at WNCC.

                "It was an amazing feeling to score," she said. "I've been working to score my two seasons here and I finally was able to get a shot into the back of the net. It's always a great feeling to finish a combination of passes with a goal. It was disappointing that Jules' goal didn't count because our passing was on point and that would have been the cherry on top."

                WNCC actually had two goals in the first half as Juliana Stratford scored on a vertical header, but it was waved off because of a foul. That would have made the score 2-2 at halftime.

                Gillette scored first in the opening half with Jess Ryan scoring with 37 minutes left in the first with a shot that went high into the corner. Ryan scored goal number two just seven minutes later for the 2-0 lead. That was when Stratford's goal was waved off, but Smith followed with a goal with eight minutes left in the half for the 2-1 halftime deficit.

                Ryan picked up the hat trick just 30 seconds into the second half as she snuck a shot past the goalkeeper for the 3-0 lead. Gillette made it 4-1 as Clara Scotte scored with 25 minutes left.

                WNCC finished the regular season with plenty of positives against Gillette despite the loss. Saturday was sophomore day for the six sophomores – Smith, Stratford, Katelyn Pyle, Allison Parker, Bianca Gomez, and Bailey Foiles. Smith said they competed on Saturday.

                "I thought we played extremely well and every sophomore left it all out on the field along with the freshmen," Smith said. "We played really well, despite the final score."

                WNCC will now enter the Region IX playoffs and they don't have an easy task at hand. The Cougars will have Laramie County Community College on Saturday. The Golden Eagles are ranked No. 2 in the nation with an 11-1 record.

                "We will most likely play LCCC and we have heard they are very strong this year," she said. "As long as we go into the game with good passes, aggressiveness, and play our game we should be able to challenge them and maybe come out with a win."