Central Wyoming College Men’s Soccer
Central Wyoming men’s soccer faced off against Laramie County Community College in their match on Friday, Oct. 11. Over the course of 90 minutes, the on-field play was riddled with copious amounts of yellow and red cards, and scoring goals was like squeezing water from a stone. The first goal of the afternoon didn’t occur until the 32nd-minute mark in the first half, when Ryan Hill found the net for the Rustlers, putting them ahead 1-0 heading into halftime. Central Wyoming College Rustlers caught a tough break when one of their defenders got called for a handball inside the penalty box, and LCCC was able to cash in on this miscue, evening the score at 1-1. A combined total of 15 yellow cards and three red cards were issued to 14 different players between both teams, and the Central Wyoming men’s soccer team ended their third straight match in a tie.
The men of Central Wyoming College soccer had their work cut out for them in Saturday’s match. The last regular season home game presented a daunting task: cement a spot in the Region IX playoffs with a win against the team with the best conference record, Western Nebraska. A highly motivated sophomore-heavy starting lineup came out and put their stamp on the game, with Tanner Johnson placing a penalty kick into the back corner of the net after being tackled inside the penalty box in the 20th minute of the game. The beginning of the second half featured a scoreboard that was locked up at 1-1, but that quickly changed as Andres Trochez found a cutting Samir Siqueira, who juked a defender and snuck the ball past the goalkeeper into the lower right corner. Unfortunately, CWC struggled to find the net again and fell to top-ranked Western Nebraska 2-3. Even with this loss, the Central Wyoming men were still able to qualify for the Region IX tournament. CWC men’s soccer will take on Otero Junior College on Saturday, October 19 in the first round of the regional tournament.
Volleyball
This past week saw CWC Volleyball take on Region IX conference opponents on Tuesday and Friday at home in the Rustler Gym.
Northwest College was the first of the two opponents, who rolled into their match Tuesday night in Rustler Gym boasting an impressive 15-5 overall record.
Central Wyoming was in the driver’s seat for the majority of the first set, stretching their lead to 20-15 at one point. But the Trappers of Northwest College fought tooth and nail for the remainder of the set, eventually evening the score at 23 apiece. After several back-and-forth volleys and kills, Northwest stole the set away, 24-26.
The second set was all Central Wyoming College, handling the Trappers 25-19. The next two sets were full of outstanding back-and-forth play by both teams, as the lead for either team never grew to more than four points. Despite a 19-dig performance from Hallie Reeder and Presley Ryan slamming home 12 kills, the Lady Rustlers dropped the next two matches and fell to Northwest College 1-3.
Determined to put an end to their three-game losing skid, Central Wyoming volleyball was eager to unleash their fury upon Gillette College Friday night.
After a first set that was identical in score to Tuesday night’s first set, the Lady Rustlers were behind early following a devastating 24-26 loss. CWC took care of business in the second set, overwhelming Gillette and only allowing seven kills en route to a final score of 25-16.
Back in an almost too familiar place in the third set, the Lady Rustlers found themselves down 8-18. After a timeout by Head Coach Kim Davis, the Lady Rustlers had seemingly discovered new life, going on an absolute tear for the remainder of the set. The energy was palpable in Rustler Gymnasium, as all in attendance witnessed the CWC volleyball team execute an astonishing comeback, outscoring the Pronghorns 17-5 and snatching away the third set from Gillette.
The momentum was almost too easily carried over into the fourth set, as Central Wyoming obliterated any hopes Gillette had of taking it to five sets. CWC spread the love in the stat sheet, having four different Lady Rustlers record over seven kills across the four sets (Khloe Hobson, Laina Whitney, Presley Ryan and Rachel Workman).
Women’s Soccer
Scraping and clawing for a Region IX playoff spot, the Lady Rustler soccer team needed to win both of their games on Friday and Saturday for a shot at making it into the top six of conference standings. Frustrations from Friday’s match against LCCC boiled over after the Lady Rustlers had 15 shots on goal, but somehow only found the back of the net once. A multitude of offside calls negated almost four different scoring opportunities for CWC as well. The lone Central Wyoming goal was Rakiya King’s, banging the ball into the lower right corner after a dime of a pass from Kristen Moss on a breakaway. An unrelenting arsenal of goals from Laramie County CC put the final score at 1-5, dashing any hopes of post-season play.
Saturday afternoon’s final match of the season for the Lady Rustler soccer team honored the team’s six sophomores. Galvanized by Friday’s loss, the CWC women were dead set on sending their graduating teammates out with a win. The match saw our CWC women set an all-time school record for shots and shots on goal, racking up 42 shots and 31 shots on goal in the 90 minutes of play. An outstanding performance by the Western Nebraska goalkeeper kept the score down to only two goals. Rakiya King struck gold first, who was led on a run to the net off of a perfect pass from Willow Aullman. At the 21st-minute mark in the first half, the conference’s second-place leader in assists, Sienna Bodily, added another one to her stats, hooking up Kristen Moss with a perfect pass. Moss put the Lady Rustlers up 2-1, and Central Wyoming was able to hold out and secure a win in their final regular season game.
Rodeo
The Men’s and Women’s Rodeo teams were back in action this past weekend after a two-week break from competition. Both teams initially struggled with the livestock they drew, according to head rodeo coach Andrew Schrock, “As a whole the cattle were a bit on the softer side, and most of the team had a hard time either being patient at the start or their horses were too strong in the field.”
Schrock’s athletes showed great composure amidst these setbacks, with Colson Myers making two quality runs in the Steer Wrestling short round. Tricia Lammers also kept her cool in Goat Tying, where she drew two strong goats that weren’t too user-friendly, but made the best of them.
Besides those two, the Rustler rodeo team had Eian Smith split the win in the long round of Bareback Riding, Chaz Dewey score himself a sixth-place finish in Bareback Riding, and Brahmer Gaehring grind out a third-place finish in Bull Riding.
On the road this week:
- Volleyball
- Friday, Oct. 18 @ Casper College @ 6 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 19 @ Western Wyoming CC @ 6 p.m.
- Women’s Basketball
- Saturday, Oct. 19 vs Trinidad State, vs College of Southern Idaho @ 4 p.m. vs Air Force Prep @ 5 p.m. (Rocky Mountain Jamboree)
- Men’s & Women’s Rodeo
- Friday, Oct. 18 @ Lamar CC
- Saturday, Oct. 19 @ Lamar CC
- Sunday, Oct. 20 @ Lamar CC
- Men’s Soccer
- Saturday, Oct. 19 @ Otero College (Region IX playoffs)
- Men’s Basketball
- Friday, Oct. 18 vs Colorado Prep Academy @ 4:30 p.m.
- Saturday, Oct. 19 vs Pratt Community College @ 8 a.m., vs Lower Columbia College @ 11 a.m.
- Ranch Horse
- Friday, Oct. 18 @ CSU Silver Jubilee- Slidin Daze @ Fort Collins, CO
- Saturday, Oct. 19 @ CSU Silver Jubilee- Slidin Daze @ Fort Collins, CO
- Sunday, Oct. 20 @ CSU Silver Jubilee- Slidin Daze @ Fort Collins, CO