LIBERAL, KS – The Laramie County Community College men's soccer put a strong second half together to earn their first win of the 2024 season against the Seward County Community College Saints on Sunday afternoon, defeating the home side 1-0 on the second half of a two-game swing through Kansas.
"I think the guys understood more of what we needed to do and how to do it no matte what conditions were, and they got it done today," Head Coach Fernando Perez said.
LCCC started the match out with some pressure on the Saints back line, earning a few good looks on goal in the opening 15 minutes but were denied twice by the SCCC goalie on athletic saves.
Both sides had their opportunities in the opening 45 minutes, but LCCC was able to build better than the Saints and by the end of the first half they had earned multiple corners and had continued to make the goalie and defense work.
The second half opened with both sides feeling each other out more, but the Golden Eagles brought a more aggressive attitude to the pitch and withing the opening 20 minutes showed that the Saints weren't going to be able to bring prolonged attacks.
"In order to compete at the NJCAA level across the country and even when we get to postseason, you have to bring energy. You can't take a play off or a rep off. You have to play for 90 minutes," Perez said.
More good looks on goal followed between the 60th and 65th minutes and it seemed like the inevitable goal would come for the Golden Eagles, and eventually they did break through.
LCCC countered a run by Seward County after a few yellow cards were handed out, and the Saints defense was left unorganized allowing for the ball movement to open up a pass from the left side by Darrien Gates II to find Tristan Villanueva in the middle of the six and he pushed one past the keeper for the opening score in the 81st minute.
Confidence was high for LCCC in the final eight minutes, and they didn't allow any shots on Luke Hyatt from the Saints despite SCCC pressing, and the Golden Eagles salted away their first win of the season.
Hyatt finished the game with nine saves for LCCC, six of which came in the second half.
The Golden Eagles attack finished with nine shots in the match and placed five of them on goal. The also earned five corner kicks on the day.
Perez said the team is starting to come together and the improvement from game one to game two shows that.
"You can tell they are being more responsible when it comes to defending and holding each other more accountable and at the end of the day trusting each other more to know where their teammate is going to be once they win the ball to play out of the back."
LCCC won't have much time to rest, as they are back on the road on Thursday, heading to Rochester, New York for games with Monroe College on Friday morning at 10:00 AM MDT and another on Saturday night at 5:00 PM MDT against Monroe Community College.
Links for those games are available at www.golccc.com, as well as more information on the Golden Eagles 2024 schedule.