ROCK SPRINGS, WY – The #19 Laramie County Community College women's soccer team shocked the second seeded Western Wyoming Community College Mustangs on Saturday afternoon in a 1-0 overtime win in the Region IX semifinals, punching their ticket to their second straight Region IX championship game.
The two sides were in a neck and neck battle all the way on a chilly day where the wind also played a constant factor, but it was the tactics that kept the LCCC offense from getting into a groove early on and limited them to just four shots in the opening 45 minutes.
"After the first five to ten minutes, we realized Western Wyoming had changed up some of their tactics from the first time we had seen them," Arenas said. "That obviously changed what we needed to do going into the second half to come out on top."
After 90 minutes, neither team had been able to break through the opposing defense.
The Golden Eagles came out in the overtime period with a sense of urgency and intensity which translated into a pair of early shots on the WWCC goal.
The first was no good, but the second on a left footed release from Macey Woolcock at the top of the 18-yard box found the upper left corner of the net and gave LCCC the golden goal victory in the 93rd minute.
Relive yesterday's OT game winner! �� pic.twitter.com/odyNfLUGps
— LCCC Women's Soccer (@LCCCwSoccer) October 30, 2023
"It was one of those games where both teams had chances to win the game and it fell into our lap at that last moment where Macey found time and space, picked her head up and had the shot, and obviously a unbelievable finish on her end," Arenas said.
The win was aided by another clean sheet from Kiara Kershaw who now has ten on the season and added to her career saves mark with six more.
"Our defense has been strong throughout the year and Kiara came up big with a handful of saves, it was just an overall wonderful group effort," Arenas added."
The Golden Eagles have not dropped a match since September 3rd and have gone 9-0-3 in that span and have only allowed six goals to conference opponents.
LCCC will face Otero College in the Region IX championship game on Saturday, October 4th with kickoff set for 1:00 pm.
"We had a close eye on the game yesterday," Arenas said. "I think it makes a difference. Not having to travel and taking a day to have a shorter training session. Both teams are going to gameplan as much as they can heading into this to win the ticket to nationals."
The two sides battled to a 2-2 draw earlier this season on October 6th in Cheyenne when the Rattlers became the only team all season to have scored more than one goal on the LCCC defense during conference play. It is also a rematch of last season's Region IX Championship which the Golden Eagles won 2-1 in Pueblo, Colorado.
Admission to the match on Saturday is free, and the championship match will be streamed live on the LCCC Golden Eagle YouTube channel. More information on the Region IX Championship can be found at www.golccc.com.