RIVERTON, WY – The Laramie County Community College women's soccer team controlled their match with the Central Wyoming College Rustlers from nearly start to finish and picked up a convincing 5-1 win to guarantee themselves a home game to open the Region IX postseason on Friday afternoon.
The win was highlighted by a hat trick from Danielle O'Leary, the first of her 2024 season and second of her career after coming close multiple times during this season as a Golden Eagle.
While O'Leary was the focus, it was a different pair of sophomores that got the offense going for the Golden Eagles in the opening ten minutes. Aubrey Yantis was the first to strike for LCCC in the fifth minute when she was fed a ball into the box and finished past a charging keeper to put the Golden Eagles up.
That was quickly followed in the ninth minute when Giselle Heck took a cross from O'Leary and slipped it past after beating the goalie to her right to make it 2-0.
"I think we just didn't have to adjust to the team and just played the way we do," Head Coach Lugo Arenas said of the quick start. "We put some things in perspective on our end that we are capable of playing a certain way and not having to adjust every single game. I was proud of the girls and they stuck to what we do really well."
Central Wyoming was able to settle their defense from there and the two sides ground into a more back and forth game, and even were able to crack into the LCCC lead when they slipped a shot into the net to close the gap to 2-1 in the 33rd minute.
The goal woke up the LCCC attack and the half was closed out by the Golden Eagles jumping back up by two on a 40th minute goal from O'Leary to start her scoring escapade and send visitors to the half up 3-1.
Defense was the name of the game in the second half, and it took time for the Golden Eagles to find a way past the Rustlers defense, but when they did, the goals came quick.
O'Leary took control of the game in the 64th minute when a feed from Addie Gonzales led her to her second goal of the match and a 4-1 lead. Just four minutes later, the sophomore from Southampton, England tacked on a third of the match for the hat trick on a feed from Jayda Kenison that would be the icing on the cake for the LCCC win.
"(Dani) has been a completely different player these last couple of weeks. She's really stepped up and become not just the leader but the individual that we've looked for early on that says give me the ball and I'll make something happen. We were super excited for her and just the way she played today."
The three-goal day gave O'Leary 12 on the season and allowed her to finally break through for the hat trick after scoring two goals in four games this season already. It is the second she has made, going along with a three-goal game against Trinidad State College last season.
It also gives the sophomore 21 goals in her career and 46 points to go with it.
"I know she plugs in a lot of hours outside of practice working on finishing. I think that's why she is her own biggest critic at times, but for her to capitalize on those few opportunities that she came across today, it really made the difference, because if it wasn't for her then it would be a close contest going in."
The defense held their ground the rest of the way on the way to only allowing two second half shots and only six total shots in the match. LCCC on the other hand finished with 20 total shots and 11 on goal as they finished off the 5-1 win convincingly.
LCCC will finish off the regular season on Saturday when they finish their road trip through the northern part of the conference against Northwest College. The match has major implications on the seeding, with the winner getting the third seed in the postseason picture, while the loser would have to face the top seed in the semifinals of the Region IX postseason.
Kickoff time is set for 2:00 pm from Powell, Wyoming. Streaming information for the match and more on the LCCC women's soccer team can be found at www.golccc.com.