CHEYENNE, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's soccer team used an early penalty kick and a late strike to seal the win on the way to a 2-0 win over Northeastern Junior College on Saturday afternoon, improving to 5-4-1 on the year and 3-2 in conference play.
"I think it was good in a few aspects, specifically showing we can finish these types of games out," Head Coach Lugo Arenas said. "My speech to the team at the end was we are going to get those really gritty Region IX games and I think today was a good example of that.
The match opened with an early opportunity as the Golden Eagles kept the ball in the attacking half, and on an awkward bounce into the 18-yard box, one of the NJC players touched the ball with an extended hand which awarded LCCC a penalty kick.
Aubrey Yantis took that and buried it in the upper right corner for her third goal of the season and a 1-0 Golden Eagle lead in the sixth minute. Arenas said he leaves it up to the players on who takes penalties like that.
"I'm not one to say 'you're taking this'. I think at the moment players know and hope that they put them away. It took me off guard. I didn't realize the ref had given a penalty until I turned to the bench, and they told me. It was warranted and we were knocking on the door anyways and it was a good opportunity for us to get the lead early on," Arenas added.
From there, despite having the ball in the attacking half for the vast majority of the half, LCCC wasn't able to find the scoreboard again and the two sides headed to the locker rooms with just the lone goal separating them.
The second half saw more of the same in terms of controlling the ball. NJC did have a momentary scare they gave to the Golden Eagles when a shot just hit off of the crossbar on a redirect from Rebecca Sargent, but it wouldn't be enough to even the game.
Meanwhile the Golden Eagles didn't back off of their domination in the offensive side, holding onto possession for over 70 minutes of game time and seeing it pay off in the 77th minute when Jentrie Porter rifled one in from twelve yards to double the LCCC lead.
That would be the final knell, and the Golden Eagles salted away the win for their second consecutive clean sheet and third since opening conference play.
"We take a lot of pride in getting our shutouts," Durtsche said. "It's really nice when we have no goals scored, it just makes you feel better about yourself, and it also helps with all of the other defenders and the keeper."
Sargent finished the match with three saves on the only three shots NJC took and as a team, the Golden Eagle barrage on the Plainswomen led to 25 shots by the match end.
While the win was big, Durtsche said the team still has work to do in getting a killer mentality.
"I feel like we still need to find that fire. In some games you can see it here and there in little moments but we need to find it where it is going through the whole game. Once we find that, and we are stepping to every ball that will help us improve."
The next weekend holds a trip back on the road for LCCC as they prepare to travel to La Junta, Colorado for a match with Otero College on Friday afternoon.
Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 pm and more information can be found at www.golccc.com.