Friday afternoon, September 15 found the CWC Rustler Women's Soccer team taking on the Lamar College Women. The Rustler women came out strong from the first minute of play. They took the ball on the kickoff down the field and shocked the Lamar women with a shot on goal by sophomore Felicity Johnstun. This became a hard-fought battle throughout the first half with the Rustler women having 10 shots and 8 of them were on goal but none finding the net. Lamar was only able to have 4 shots at the goal during that first half but was able to put enough pressure on the Rustler defense to keep things swaying back and forth. The second half was much like the first with an ebb and flow match up. The CWC Women's team outshot the Lamar Women 14 shots to 9. Neither team was able to find the net.

Sophomores Joey Kay and Felicity Johnstun led the team in shots with three each. When asked about the game Freshman, Morgan Talbot said, "I think we played very well as a team and that we could have won. We just needed to finish our shots." After the match, Coach DeCook was excited about the play explaining, "These ladies just never give up. We had our opportunities but we couldn't find the net. Today showed how much of a team this group of students- athletes truly are." The final score was tied 0-0.

The second match of the day saw the CWC Men's Soccer team take it to the Lamar team. Tanner Johnson put a shot into the net at the start of the match and then Pedro da Costa put a hard shot in off of a great pass from Santiago Catano. Lamar only had three shots during the first half. The second half saw continued high-level play by the Rustler men. Tanner Johnson got another goal shortly after the start of the half with an assist by Sophomore Juan Maya. Then a few minutes later with a wonderful assist by Juan Maya, Dorian Penner took on the goalkeeper and put a beautiful chip into the net.  At the 26-minute mark, the Rustlers were called for rough play in the penalty box which led to Lamar's lone goal off of a penalty kick. The Rustlers fought back and pressured the Lamar defense allowing Valin Suzio to put the ball in the back of the net with only 5:33 minutes left to play.

Freshman Valin Suzio was asked about his first goal of the year, "It was absolutely great to be able to get my first college goal. But to put one more in as a team was fantastic." Coach DeCook added, "We played as a total team today. We moved the ball, looked for the open man, and took advantage of our speed and ball skills to beat Lamar."  The final score was 5-1.

The women's team will head to Rock Springs, WY to play Western Wyoming on Friday, September 22nd.  The men's team will not play this week.

Photo credit: Stacie Simmons