Julia Santos, Amanda Duarte, and Mariah Russel each scored twice and the Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team shut out Trinidad State College 8-0 in a Region IX South conference contest Saturday at Landers Soccer Complex.
It was the most goals the Cougars have scored in a match since the 2019 season when they won 12-0 against Dakota County Technical College.
Russel scored the final two goals of the contest as the match was called via the 8-goal rule after 70 minutes have been played.
Russel said the team played a lot better in the second half compared to the first. WNCC held a 2-0 lead at halftime and then scored six goals in the second half.
"I think our team played very well especially in the second half," she said. "We begun to work very well together and capitalized on our opportunities. The second half we definitely were able to come together as a team more and build up to our goals."
The Cougars had a number of opportunities to score even more goals but just missed on several shots. WNCC had 27 shots in the contest.
WNCC wasted little time in scoring as Santos took a pass from Allison Herbel in the 13th minute and scored on a long shot for the 1-0 lead. WNCC made it 2-0 when Irene Romero Molina took a pass from Adryana Rodriguez and finished for lead at halftime.
The second half was a different story for the Cougar women as they scored six goals. Duarte started the scoring as the sophomore had an unassisted goal as she took a rebound off a missed shot and stuck it back into the net just four minutes into the second half.
Santos netted her second goal just two minutes later as the freshman from Brazil took a pass from Herbel in the 48th minute to make it 4-0.
Nine minutes later, Herbel dished off her third assist of the game as Danae Montalvo scored on a long shot that was well behind the box for a 5-0 lead in the 57th minute. Two minutes later, Duarte scored her second goal as she took a pass from Santos and scored in the 59th minute.
WNCC made it 7-0 in the 70th minute when Russel scored her first goal, taking a pass from Irene Romero Molina for the score.
Russel ended the match with her second goal with just 14 minutes left in the contest when the sophomore from Scottsbluff took a pass from Montalvo and scored for the 8-0 lead and the game.
Russel said that the match called early came unexpected to the team.
"It was definitely unexpected to have the game stopped early," she said. "I personally was not aware of the new rule."
WNCC, 2-4 in the conference and 3-7 overall, will be back in action Saturday when Laramie County Community College comes to Scottsbluff for a conference contest. First kick is slated for 1:30 p.m. LCCC is 5-0-1 in conference play and 5-2-2 overall.