CASPER, WY – The Laramie County Community College men's soccer team dug deep on Saturday afternoon to rally from a 1-0 halftime deficit to earn a 1-1 draw with Casper College on the second leg of a weekend back-to-back to improve their record to 2-1-1 in Region IX action.
The Golden Eagles gave up a first half goal in the 34th minute but the defense played well outside of that to keep the team only down one at the half.
"In the first half they started out slow, but I think they understood what these points meant," Head Coach Fernando Perez said. "I think they stepped up in the second half to earn that goal and continue to play better soccer than they did in the first half."
The second half was another low scoring one with the wind playing a big factor and LCCC took advantage of the physical play to earn a penalty kick for Azael Marrufo and he converted it into the equalizer in the 65th minute to even the match at one.
From there, the defense held serve to finish the game one-all and Perez said it was a group effort that translated over from the clean sheet they earned against Gillette on Friday.
"I asked them to do what they did yesterday today," Perez added. "It starts with the discipline of defending from the top of the field, middle of the field, and in our defensive third. That eases a little bit of pressure off of (Adan Herrera) and I think all of the defenders have done a great job."
The draw came in a physical game where both teams finished with 17 fouls apiece and four yellow cards each and Perez also added he was proud of his team keeping their composure in a game with that much contact.
LCCC was outshot in the game six to eleven, but Herrera made six saves in the match on the Thunderbird attacks.
The Golden Eagles are off to their longest road trip of the season when they head to Lamar Community College on Friday for a 3:30 kickoff against the Running Lopes before returning north for a game against Northeastern Junior College on Saturday at 3:30.
Game information can be found at www.golccc.com.