Western Ends With a W

On Tuesday, less than 24 hours after their hard fought match versus the #1 ranked Darton State College, the Western Wyoming Mustangs faced off against the #8 seed the Western Texas Westerners.  WWCC started slow and almost gave up a shot on goal in the first thirty seconds of the match to WTC.  The match was fun to be a part of as both teams played well and both teams had some chances on goal but neither team would score in regulation.  Western Texas had a penalty kick opportunity in the 1st half about the 10th minute, the penalty kick was saved by Mitch Jensen.  Some of Western Wyoming's best chances happened from quick crosses by Jared Jess, diagonal back passes by Steven Shelley, long shots by Richard Harris and Taylor Egbert along with flicked on balls by Jarom Stuart and through balls to Greg Howard.  In the final 2 minutes of play it appeared that WWCC would score twice and WTC had a good chance also, but after 90 minutes the score remained 0 - 0.  This is the 5th shutout for the Mustangs this season and the 4th shutout for Mitch Jensen this season which is a WWCC single season record.
In the NJCAA tournament pool play there is no overtime and after the 90 minute regulation both teams head to penalty kicks to decide the winner.  This is WWCC's second penalty kicks of the season.  WWCC had the same 5 kickers in the same order and kicked second, after the Western Texas Westerners.  WTC's first kicker was blocked by Mitch Jensen and Logan Anderson made the first kick for WWCC.  WTC's second kicker converted and Greg Howard again hit his penalty for a 2 - 1 WWCC lead after 2 kicks.  WTC's 3rd kicker was again blocked by Mitch Jensen, Taylor Egbert was the third kicker and he hit the bottom right post - after three kicks it was still WWCC 2 - WTC 1.  The fourth WTC kicker was off the mark and Jared Jess stepped up for the Mustangs and calmly buried it just left of the the WTC kicker.  The Mustangs won the penalty shootout in the fourth round by a score of 3 - 1.  In NJCAA tournament play the winner of the penalty kicks is awarded 2 points.  These are the first points that any Region IX men's team has ever earned at the NJCAA tournament.  Unfortunately not getting 3 points means that the WWCC team was officially eliminated from the tournament.  The Mustangs would finish in 8th place at the NJCAA tournament.

Match Facts; Shots – WWCC 13, WTC 16; Assists – WWCC 0, WTC 0; Saves – WWCC 8, WTC 2; Free Kicks – WWCC 7, WTC 12; Corner Kicks – WWCC 3, WTC 12; Cards – WWCC 0, DSC 0

Mustang CO-Men of the Match – Mitch Jensen & Nate Pierce - Mitch saved a penalty kick in regulation and 2 during the shootout.  Nate Pierce was asked to fill in during the first match of the tournament for a starter who was serving a yellow card suspension and then again in this match for Adrian Sanchez who was injured.

Up Next for the Mustangs –End of 2012 season.  Recruiting will begin for the 2013-2014 Mustangs along with Spring soccer starting in February 2012.