The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team will get a test to see how good they are this weekend when the Cougars open the season against NJCAA Division II No. 10 Northeast Community College in Norfolk.

                WNCC will face Northeast at 10 a.m. MST in Norfolk and then take on Central Community College-Columbus on Friday in Columbus.

                WNCC head coach Todd Rasnic said this will be a good test for his team, who also has the potential to have a good season. Rasnic said they are ready to go.

                “They better be ready to play because Northeast was in the DII national tournament last year and they had three all-American players on that team,” he said. “Their coach is a good coach and always recruits strong, athletic kids that are always up for a challenge and battle. That first game will be a battle of who has the most will power and which team has put in the most work into their fitness.”

                Thursday’s contest will be a test for the Cougars, who finished last season at 6-6-2 and lost in the semifinals of the Region IX tournament a year ago.

                Both WNCC and Northeast had one scrimmage in August. Northeast scrimmaged Hastings on Monday. The Cougars scrimmaged Bright Stars in Denver on Saturday and Rasnic said they won 1-0 and they learned a lot, playing against former college players including two former Cougars.

                “I thought we played as expected on Saturday,” Rasnic said. “We struggled a little bit early and after the first half we picked it up a little bit. We had a lot of freshman play and we played a team that had collegiate experience. We played well in the second half, but we were a bit lucky. We had some outstanding play by our goalkeeper. She made three great saves in the game that kept us in the lead. We scored one goal and I thought we should have scored more. But, overall it was a decent performance for the team.”

                As for the season opener, Rasnic said they haven’t played Northeast in a couple years, but expects a good match.

                “It is a great test for us. I hope we are at a point where we can compete in this game and win it,” he said.

                Last year Northeast Community College had their best season, capturing their regional tournament and winning a match at the national tournament. The Hawks return two of their top players, who earned NJCAA All-American status a year ago.

                The Hawks return ICCAC Player of the year Naomi Pedroza of Hastings and defender Jessica Clinton, a defender from Brighton, Colorado, who were both First Team All-Americans. Pedroza tallied 16 goals and 10 assists a year ago. Clinton was part of a Hawk defense only allowed 16 goals in 18 matches a year ago.

                WNCC shouldn’t be too bad either. The Cougars return 11 players from a year ago came back this season and then WNCC head coach Todd Rasnic added another eight players to the team, including the two red-shirts from a year ago.

                The returners include Leticia Heeman, Raquel Ferreira, Ana Lopes, Karol Oliveira, and Leticia Modesto from Brazil; Vicky Granda from Ecuador; Ashley Ruiz, Andrea Jimenez, Litzi Delarosa, Kianna Thompson, and Jackie Valenciano from Denver.

                Of the newcomers or freshman, only two are from the Panhandle as Izzy Wright and her sister Cali Wright make up the team. The Wrights were part of a stellar Scottsbluff team the last four years.

                The other newcomers include the two red-shirts from a year ago in Hazel Cardenas of Aurora, Colorado, and Hailey Kwiatkowski of Colorado Springs, Colorado.

                The other newcomers include Luisa Cordiero from Brazil; Vanessa Vasquez from Aurora, Colorado; and Yoseline Hernandez and Yasmin Rojas from Commerce City, Colorado.

                Rasnic said this team has the potential to be good. At the Bright Stars scrimmage, WNCC won 1-0 as Vazquez scored the only goal in the second half. Rasnic said that freshman goalkeeper Cordiero made some big saves in net for the Cougars.

                “We have a lot of talent, the question is how well they come together and how good they will be playing with each other is always the question,” Rasnic said. “Sometimes you can be really talented and not be good. We are very talented and we are starting to develop in the way of game flow and coming together. I anticipate by mid-season, if we continue to move in the right direction, we will be very good.”

                The defense should be good once again, but Rasnic thinks they are strong everywhere.

                “We can win every game if we can play together,” he said. “if we start playing by ourselves and not working with our teammates then we could struggle a little bit.”

                After this week’s contest, the Cougar women will have a scrimmage against Black Hills State in Rapid City next weekend before returning home September 3 and 4 to play Northwest College and Central Wyoming College.