The Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team remained unbeaten in conference play with a dominating performance Saturday against Lamar Community College on sophomore recognition day.
The Cougars got two goals from sophomore Eduardo Oliveira in registering the 6-0 win. The other three goals also came from sophomores with Jose Menezes, Michael Escobar, and Maxime Niyibaho.
Niyibaho, who had the third goal of the game for a 3-0 halftime lead, said the team played well.
“I thought we played really great,” Niyibaho said. “We are a little tired because we played Wednesday and also yesterday (Friday), but we stay focused. Coach told us to keep it simple and score a lot. We could have scored more, but we all played great and the whole team played today.”
The key to the win was a variety of scorers along with the players that got assists. That is a big key if the Cougars are going to make a run at a regional title.
“That is a team because our teammates have to score too and everyone did well today,” Niyibaho said. “Some of our defenders also scored underneath and coach is very happy for that.”
The win moves WNCC to 4-0 in the conference and Niyibaho said that is nice as they continue building to the regional playoffs.
“I think we started really well in the conference at 4-0. We know have to keep winning because we don’t play at home any more and we play away, so we have to play well to get ready for the tournament,” he said.
The Cougars opened the scoring in the 36th minutes when Michael Escobar scored an unassisted goal. Two minutes later, Eduardo Oliveira scored off an assist from Alvaro Abeal to make it 2-0. WNCC made it 3-0 when Niybaho scored right before half.
The second half saw WNCC get three more goals. The first was in the 52nd minute when Lamar knocked the ball in for an own goal. One minute later, Menezes scored off an assist from Anthony Lemus to make it 5-0.
Oliveira scored his second goal of the match off an assist from Niyibaho in the 62nd minute for the 6-0 lead.
The Cougars kept peppering the goal after the sixth goal as the Cougars had six more shots that were near misses.
WNCC, 4-0 in conference and 5-3-1 overall, will be back in action next weekend when they travel to Trinidad State College on Friday and Otero College on Saturday.
Cougars down NJC on Friday
The WNCC men’s soccer team received two goals from Eduardo Oliveira as the Cougars earned a 3-1 win over Northeastern Junior College on Friday.
Oliveira scored both his goals in the second half.
The first half was a defensive contest as neither team scored until with 43:36 to play in the opening half when Anthony Lemus fed the ball to Alvaro Abeal who scored to make it 1-o at half.
Oliveira scored his first goal to put WNCC up 2-0 when Abeal fed him the ball and Oliveira scored just five minutes into the contest. Oliveira scored his second goal when Lemus got his second assist in the 80th minute.
NJC avoided the shutout when Maxence Ciebert scored off a free kick with a minute to play to make it 3-1.
Owen Henderson had four saves in net for the Cougars. WNCC had 12 shots on goal.
