The Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team gave everything they had against the NJCAA 15^th-ranked Western Wyoming Community College on Saturday, but in the end, the Cougars fell 4-0 to the Mustangs.

                WNCC and Western Wyoming battled to the bitter end in the first half with both teams thwarting each other's shots. The Mustangs, however, got the only score of the first half when Ashtyn Carlson scored in the 23^rd minute off an assist from Brynleigh Ritchie. After that, the Cougars had three good scoring opportunities but couldn't find the back of the net.

                Cougar defensive player Emilee Hunsley said they played well but came up short.

                "We played very well and strayed composed in the first half and worked well together," the freshman from Spearfish, South Dakota, said. "Overall, we played with high intensity and came out strong and ready to play."

                The second half saw Western Wyoming score three goals in the first 20 minutes of the half. The Mustangs made it 2-0 when Ester Broom scored five minutes into the half off an assist from Kyla Arnes. Six minutes later, Broom scored again as she found the ball off a rebound and, more-and-less, in a scrum in front of the net and made it 3-0.

                The Mustangs scored its final goal in the 65^th minute when Emma Granthem scored off an assist from Quincy Chipman.

                After that, the Cougar defense shut down the high-scoring Western Wyoming attack while getting several opportunities to scored in the final 16 minutes of the contest. But the shots that the Cougar players took either went wide or high, or saved by the Western Wyoming goalkeeper Kamry Fellows, who had eight saves in net.

                WNCC goalkeeper Emily Villagomez also had eight saves in net.

                WNCC had shot nine shots with six on net. Lesley Vasquez had four shots with three on frame while Aileen Perez had three shots with three on net.

                WNCC, 1-3-2 on the season, will be on the road for four matches over the next two weekends. Next weekend, the Cougars will head to Casper College for a Friday tilt and then on to Gillette College on Saturda7.

                Hunsley said the focus for the upcoming road games is just to keep working.

                "For our focus this week, we need to practice with a lot of intensity and give 110 percent every day to achieve the goals we have," she said. "We just need to focus on the next step forward and work extra hard to get where we need to be and raise our intensity during practices."