Cougar women’s soccer opens the season with a very young team

The Western Nebraska Community College women’s soccer team will be young, but with plenty of talent after graduating nine sophomores from a team that went 7-7 a year ago.

This year, the Cougar women have five returners that saw plenty of action along with a good group of incoming freshmen to aim for a 10-win season. The last time the Cougar women had a 10-plus win season was in 2019 when they went 13-4.

The women will see how they mesh this weekend when they have an alumni game on Saturday afternoon at 1 p.m. at Landers Soccer Complex and then they open the season for real on August 19 when they travel to Sterling, Colorado, to face Iowa Lakes Community College before hosting Southeast Community College on Monday, August 21 in a 10 a.m. start.

Sophomore Sara Lourenco, who suffered a knee injury a year ago after the season, said this team has a lot of talent and is looking good in pre-season practices.

“The women’s soccer team can be an excellent team,” Lourenco, of Colider, Brazil, said. “We have great talent and also we all work hard. We have everything to be a very good team.”

Besides Loucenco, the other returners from a year ago include Lesley Vasquez of Denver, Colorado, Tania Razo of Aurora, Colorado, Aileen Perez of Thornton, Colorado, and Jacky Castro of Aurora, Colorado.

What makes the women dangerous is how talented the incoming players are. The Cougars have plenty of talent from around the area including Scottsbluff graduate Kate Larson, Torrington graduate Jade Brothwell, along with Spearfish, South Dakota, graduate Emilee Hunsley, who’s sister Brittney played for the Cougars in 2019.

“The team had a lot of talent and different talent,” Lourenco said. “That, in my opinion, is what makes the team totally complete.”

Larson can also play goalkeeper when she isn’t playing in the field. The goalkeeper is Emily VillaGomez of Aurora, Colorado. As a junior, VillaGomez had 62 saves in net for Vista Peak Prep. Joining VillaGomez on the Cougars is her high school teammate Lizbeth Barrera.

Other players on the team include Ariel Veliz of Wellington, Colorado, Yasmin Urbina of Brush Colorado, Valentina Cueva from Lima, Peru, Ana Gomes from Brazil, Alejandra Rodriguez from Quitor, Ecuador, and the twins on the team Ashley and Maria VillaGomez from Mexico.

With all the talent on this team, Lourenco said it isn’t just one player standing out, but everyone is standing out.

“The team is very talented,” she said. “All the girls are going very well. I can’t say one player is standing out, but the team together will stand out so much this season.”

The team did go through a rash of injuries the first few days of pre-season practices, but have been working hard this past week with almost everyone healthy and getting ready to open the season come August 19.

The Cougars will have seven homes games this season including capping off the regular season with three straight home contests in October. The Region IX tournament will begin Oct. 21 with the winner advancing to the national tournament in Wichita, Kansas, in November.

The team’s goal is to make the regional tournament and hopefully get a third Region IX championship for the women’s team. The first two came in 2003 and 2008.

The goal for this team is to make the regional tournament and a chance at a regional title. If everything goes right, that could happen. — Written by Mark Rein