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On Friday at Crossroads Park in Rock Springs the WWCC Mustangs played against the Otero Junior College Rattlers from La Junta CO in a Region IX match up. The Rattlers got off to a fast start with a couple of scoring opportunities in the opening minutes. The WWCC team calmed down and played fairly evenly with OJC for stretches of the 1st half. In the 26th minute the Rattlers found a crease in the defense and squeaked a shot past WWCC keeper Cory Thibeault. Forty seconds later OJC took the ball down the end line and bent a ball around the keeper and into the side netting. Otero took a 2 - 0 lead into the half.
The Mustangs never stopped fighting and trying to get in the match however they could not connect with very many passes in a row, especially in the attacking third of the field. Otero added an insurance goal in the 75th minute off of a corner kick that dropped to an Otero player's feet. Otero did create more chances at the goal. WWCC was able to get most of their shots off of long set pieces that were blown by the wind into the OJC keeper's hand. The final score of the match was OJC 3 - WWCC 0. This drops the Mustangs to a 1 - 1 - 0 record overall and the same record in Region IX. Otero Junior College were the Region IX regular season and tournament champions last season, along with making it to the NJCAA National Tournament. Currently OJC is ranked #7 by the NJCAA polls.
Match Facts: Shots; WWCC 11, OJC 9 - Assists; WWCC 0, OJC 2 - Cards; WWCC 1, OJC 3 - Free Kicks; WWCC 11, OJC 8 - Keeper Saves; WWCC 5, OJC 7 - Corners; WWCC 2, OJC 6
Mustang Man of the Match: Spencer Mohlman for outstanding play during the match, his pride in the team and he taking his role as a captain very seriously.
Up Next for the Mustangs: Wednesday September 8th versus Northeastern Junior College (Region IX match) at 3:00pm in Rock Springs WY (Crossroads Field – directions are on link to the left)
