Eduardo Oliveira scored with under eight minutes to play and the Western Nebraska Community College men’s soccer team earned a berth into the Region IX finals after topping Laramie County Community College 1-0 in the semifinals at Landers Soccer Complex Saturday afternoon.

WNCC will host the Region IX Finals next Saturday at 2 p.m. with Otero College making their way to Landers after topping Casper College 1-0 in the other semifinal in Casper, Wyoming. The winner of the Region IX Tournament qualifies for the NJCAA national tournament in mid-November in Wichita, Kansas.

Simon Echeverry, who had the assist on Oliveira’s goal, said this was a big win for the team.

“This is probably one of the biggest wins in WNCC history because as host we won 1-0 in a hard game. It was a really tight game at the beginning,” Echeverry said. “In the second half, we created some changes. We didn’t score until the last seven minutes. It was an amazing game for us because we fought and focused in, so I have no words for this.”

What makes the win special is in playoff games, LCCC held a 2-7 record against WNCC. The Cougars, however, won the last three matches coming in. The match itself was a battle and Echeverry had a prime chance to score in the second half as a cross in front of the goal came his way and he attempted a vertical header shot but couldn’t get it in the net.

A couple minutes later, that was when Echeverry helped with an assist to Oliveira for the go-ahead goal.

“It all started with Eduardo because he created the chance from the beginning,” Echeverry said. “He got the tackle and then he passed to me with a long ball. Then I saw the keeper keeping all the space, so I saw Eduardo and I made the pass to him and he scored.”

The play was one for the memory albums. With about eight minutes to play Oliveira started the scoring play as him and a LCCC player were battling for the ball. Oliveira made a sliding kick of the ball that sprang Oliveira wide open and he took off down the leftside in front of the benches. Oliveira then delivered the ball to Echeverry who went toward the goal, but the LCCC defense converged on him so he passed the ball to a wide open Oliveira and he calmly put the ball in the back of the net with 7:41 to play.

Up until that point, neither team could find the back of the net. The first half saw WNCC get nine opportunities to score and all nine came up empty. LCCC had two good scoring chances in the first half.

The second half WNCC’s Anthony Lemus had a shot just two minutes into the half that wouldn’t go in. LCCC countered just five minutes into the half when Vincent Renton had a shot that just went wide. Oliveria came down and had a shot that went high and then LCCC had a shot with 35 minutes to play that WNCC goalkeeper Owen Henderson made a save.

With 10 minutes to play, the Golden Eagles had another shot that went wide. That set up the Cougars scoring play and the connections worked out perfectly for the goal.

The win moves the Cougars into the finals next weekend at home. The last time the Cougars made the Region IX finals was 2009 when they lost to LCCC 1-0. WNCC last won the Region IX title in 2003.

Echeverry said having the finals on their own field with their fan base will be exciting and they just have to come focused and ready to play because it will be another battle like Saturday. WNCC and Otero met once this season and the two teams tied 1-1 with both goals coming in the first half earlier in October at LaJunta, Colorado.

“We have to stay humble and play amazing against Otero and keep pushing to the end. We just need to enjoy the day today and tomorrow (Sunday) and then Monday get back on the field. Playing at home is the because of the environment with our families and everyone here supporting Cougars.”