Lesley Vasquez had a hat trick and Tania Razo scored twice as the Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team had a must conference win to keep their playoff hopes alive with a 7-2 win over Trinidad State College Friday afternoon at the Landers Soccer Complex.
"This was a very important win for us because this win could possibly give us a shot for the playoffs," sophomore Aileen Perez said. "But, the win was good most importantly for us as a team and our mentalities."
Perez said the keys to the game was finishing and taking shots.
"The keys for victory was finishing the opportunities we have and we did that today," she said. "The team played very well today. We touched the ball just how we practiced and it resulted to a great outcome."
WNCC dominated on the offensive end with 30 shots to Trinidad's 14. The Cougars also had nine cornerkicks to the Trojans zero.
WNCC wasted little time in scoring as Vasquez scored an unassisted goal off a free kick that just trickled in under the Trinidad State's goalkeeper's hands for the 1-0 lead with 32:58 to play in the opening half.
Trinidad knotted the score at 1-1 with 24 minutes to play as Yaddelis Alderete scored. WNCC went up 2-1 with 13:09 left in the first half when Tania Razo fed Vasquez with a pass and Vasquez found the net. That is where the match stood at halftime.
The Cougar women went on a scoring spree in the second half. Vasquez netted her third goal just two minutes into the half when Razo delivered her the ball and she found the net.
WNCC made it 4-1 when Razo picked up her third assist in the game as she delivered a nice ball to Perez who finished it into the net with 33:03 to play.
The Cougars made it 6-1 as Razo score twice. The first came with 29:22 to play as Vasquez got the assist on a beautiful connection between the two.
Razo made it 6-1 with 16:51 to play as Perez got the assist for the goal.
Trinidad came back and scored to make it 6-2 with 16:22 to play as Litzy Mendoza scored.
The Cougars went up 7-2 with under two minutes to play when Perez took the corner kick and delivered the ball into the box and Alejandra Rodriquez headed the ball into the net for the final goal of the game.
WNCC goalkeeper Emily Villagomez had seven saves in net.
WNCC will be back in action Saturday when they host Otero at 1 p.m. Perez said they need to play like they did against Trinidad and then some.
"We need to stay compacted and play the way we did today (Friday)," she said. "We also need to be strong because this game Saturday is going to be tough but we can do it."