After being on the road for the past four weeks, the Western Nebraska Community College men's and women's soccer team will make its first appearance at Landers Soccer Complex Saturday afternoon when they take on Central Community College-Columbus.
The WNCC women, who fell for the first time last week to Trinidad State Junior College, will take to the pitch at 1:30 p.m., while the Cougar men will take on the Raiders at 4 p.m.
WNCC freshman Destiny Mueller said the women's team is excited to be playing at home.
"The team and I are very excited to play at home," Mueller said. "It would be really fun watching everybody come out and support us."
Saturday's conference games will be interesting. The WNCC women are 6-1 on the season and will face a Central team that is 5-4. Central-Columbus is 1-3 in conference action while the Cougar women are 1-1. Central fell to Sheridan 4-0, Northwest College 2-1, and Friday to Northeastern Junior College 2-0, while beating Central Wyoming 3-0.
The men's contest will pit a Raider team that is 6-2-1 after splitting Region IX conference games last weekend, falling to Northwest College 2-1 before blanking Central Wyoming 5-0. The Cougar men enter riding a 3-game losing skid. WNCC is 0-3 in conference play after dropping contests last weekend to Trinidad State 3-1 and Otero 4-1.
Mueller said her women's team is focused to get back on track. Last weekend, WNCC fell to Trinidad 1-0 before earning a 1-0 win over Otero.
"Our mindset is set pretty good; we just take it one game at a time to reach to where we want to go," Mueller said. "We have been hearing that they have some pretty good girls on the team so we can't underestimate them."
After falling out rankings this week, WNCC was ranked No. 19 the previous two weeks before the loss to Trinidad, the women's team knows what needs to be done to win.
"We need to win the 50/50 balls in the middle of the field and play with heart," Mueller said. "It all comes down to who wants it more."
After Saturday, WNCC will host a pair of conference next weekend when they face Gillette College on Friday and Sheridan College on Saturday.
Region IX Standings
Women's
Team Conf. Overall
LCCC 2-0 5-0-1
NW Wyo. 1-0 3-4
Sheridan 2-1 2-3-1
WNCC 1-1 6-1
Gillette 1-1 5-2
NJC 2-1 5-3
Otero 1-1 3-4
Trinidad 1-1 2-3
CCC-Columbus 1-3 5-4
C. Wyo. 0-1 1-5
W. Wyo. 0-2 3-4
Men's
NJC 2-0 5-4-1
LCCC 3-0 4-3
Gillette 1-1 6-1-1
NW Wyo. 1-0 5-1-1
CCC_Columbus 1-1-1 6-2-1
Otero 1-1 3-3
Sheridan 1-1-1 1-2-1
Trinidad 1-1 1-5
C. Wyo. 0-1 1-5
W. Wyo. 0-2 1-6
WNCC 0-2 3-4