Mustangs Go Two for Two in the Sunflower State

On Saturday the Mustangs of WWCC played their second match in Goodland Kansas in two days.  This match was against the home-standing Northwest Kansas Technical College Mavericks.  Northwest Kansas is a second year soccer program that made a trip to Rock Springs the previous year.  The Mustangs started the scoring early in the first half when Nate Cutler scored his first goal for the Mustangs in the 9th minute off of a Taylor Egbert assist.  The Mustangs kept the momentum going forward when they scored their second goal of the match off of Jarom Stuart's foot, assisted by Steven Shelley.  The lead was 2 - 0 for the Mustangs in the 14th minute.  This early lead for WWCC only made the home team NWKTC play at a faster pace and take some chances down the field to get on the scoreboard.  NWKTC got on the scoreboard in the 22nd minute when their #11 found space about 25 yards out and placed a beautiful ball past WWCC keeper Mitch Jensen in the top right corner of the net.  NWKTC continued to place pressure on the Mustangs and their efforts panned out again in the 43rd minute when they got their second goal of the match.  This goal was scored when Mitch Jensen initially made a save which rebounded and found the foot of a Maverick player who booted it into the net.  The score was 2 - 2 at the intermission.
The second half saw a lot of physical play and cards from the referee.  The two teams were even involved in some pretty good soccer.  The match took a turn for the Mustangs in the 50th minute when a Maverick was red carded for an elbow to the face of Taylor Egbert.  WWCC regained most of the possession and style of play while playing a man up on the Mavericks.  However chances by Greg Howards, Steven Shelley and Richard Harris were not enough to get on the scoreboard.  Another red card in the 70th minute changed the match again, this time to a more even match.  Bernie Manuel of WWCC was red carded for a verbal altercation and late tackle.  The match with only 20 players was back and forth play at a furious pace as both teams tried to find the game winning goal.  A third red card was shown in the 78th minute to another NWKTC Maverick for a late tackle and foul on Logan Anderson of WWCC.  This left the match 9 Mavericks versus 10 Mustangs on the pitch.  This time the WWCC team would use the man advantage to help us out on the scoreboard.  In the 88th minute a ball was floated into the 18 yard box and Jarom Stuart leaped to win the ball with his head over the charging Maverick keeper.  The ball was headed towards the net but so were Jared Jess of WWCC and a NWKTC defender.  Luckily for WWCC Jared Jess was just able to touch the ball first into the net and get credit for the game winning goal.  Two minutes later in the 90th minute Steven Shelley scored his first goal of the match and the four of the day for WWCC.  Shelley's goal was assisted by Jarom Stuart who flicked the ball past the Maverick defense and gave Shelley a 1 v 1 with the Maverick keeper.  The win against the Region 6 opponent pulls the WWCC record to 3 - 1 - 0 for the 2012 campaign.  This is the most wins WWCC has ever had in it's first 4 matches since their inception in 2005.

Match Facts; Shots – WWCC 25, NWKTC 11; Assists – WWCC 4, NWKTC 1; Saves – WWCC 5, NWKTC 7; Free Kicks – WWCC 10, NWKTC 9; Corner Kicks – WWCC 6, NWKTC 2; Cards – WWCC 4, NWKTC 4

Mustang Man of the Match – Jared Jess - Jared not only got the game winning goal but played well, especially in the second half when he played a lot of minutes and showed a lot of hustle on a hot Kansas day.

Up Next for the Mustangs – Saturday September 8th vs Idaho State University (Club) at Rock Springs Junior High (3500 Foothill Blvd) in Rock Springs WY at 4:00pm.