WICHITA, KS – The Laramie County Community College women's soccer team struggle on the offensive side of the field in their opening game at the NJCAA National Championships on Sunday morning, falling to the top seeded Iowa Western Community College Reivers 6-0 to begin pool play.
"It was more so on my end not getting them prepared for a game like this," Head Coach Lugo Arenas said. "Iowa Western had really good intentions on how to play against some of our weaker areas and I should have done better to prep the girls."
The Reivers didn't waste any time before scoring in the opening minute of the match when 45 seconds in they buried a shot from just inside the 18 to gain the early momentum.
They added to that just six minutes later with a second goal and it seemed like the game would get out of hand, but LCCC showed their resolve and dug in to play the rest of the first half scoreless.
Late in the half, Macey Woolcock found herself open in the box but failed to finish the shot after it deflected off of the cross bar. Wookcock had a second chance on the rebound, but it was sent into the hands of the Reivers goalie and the final action of the half saw the teams head to the break with IWCC up 2-0.
"They did start to piece some stuff together towards the end of the first half and into the second half and its stuff that we can carry into tomorrow's game," Arenas said. "We stuck to what we did all year, and I didn't want to change anything because I think for us it worked all year long and I think even against some of the teams we played earlier in the year, created opportunities against them."
The Reivers attack in the second half was too much early on for the Golden Eagles and another goal came in the 47th minute and again in the 55th minute.
Another pair was added in the final 30 minutes by Lou Brossault who finished with two goals for the Iowa Western and they wrapped up the win 6-0 to drop LCCC to 0-1 in pool play as they head into their final guaranteed match against Hill College who enter the game as the 8th overall seed.
"We were in this position earlier in the year when we played Eastern Florida and lost 5-1 and then won our first conference game of the year. It's just reminding them that's how this game works and regardless of who you play with the next day it's a fresh start and a new day. If we win tomorrow, it comes down to goal differential, so every game matters into this point," Arenas said.
LCCC was outshot in the game 43-5 and only managed one shot in the second half of the match.
Kiara Kershaw was a standout in goal and finished with 19 saves, giving her 238 in her career and moving her into first place all time in career saves. It also gives the sophomore 123 on the season. If Kershaw completes the full game against Hill College, she will also move into the top spot in school history for minutes in goal.
Monday's match with the Rebels will kickoff at 10:00 AM CST (9:00 AM MST) and will be streamed on the NJCAA Network. More information can be found online at www.golccc.com.