The Western Nebraska Community College women's soccer team battled No. 7 Laramie County Community College tooth and nail in the first half, but then fell flat in the second half in falling to the Golden Eagles 2-0 in a Region IX conference match Wednesday at Landers Soccer Complex.

                WNCC sophomore Ana Caroline Lopes said they played well in the first half, but not the best in the second half.

                "In the first half we played very well," she said. "We played as equals. They had few scoring changes and we defended well. We attacked very well "

                The first half was dominated by WNCC as the Cougars outshot LCCC 5-2. WNCC had a good chance to score in the first five minutes but couldn't get the ball to go in. With 10 minutes gone on the clock, Ashley Ruiz had a good shot and that just missed.

                The best chance to score came with 18 minutes left as Andrea Jimenez took a long shot and it was on line to go into the goal, but at the last second it hit the south goal post and went back into play. That was Jimenez' second good chance to score as three minutes earlier, she just missed again.

                The final opportunity came from Lopes, who had a free kick that sailed right to LCCC's goalkeeper London Ewing. Neither team scored in the first as the teams settled for a 0-0 tie.

                The second half started with three straight free kicks, two from LCCC and one from WNCC and all the free kicks went off the mark.

                LCCC finally got on the scoreboard with 38:26 to play when Ainsley Basich scored off an assist from Mattiese Loreton for the 1-0 lead. LCCC went up 2-0 as Basich scored her second goal off an assist from Hanah Cornaby with 28:19 to play.

                Both teams had shots after that that wouldn't go in.

                WNCC head coach Todd Rasnic said the women were in it, but they didn't play a complete game to get the win.

                "The women just didn't play a complete game," he said. "Both teams got beat physically. We literally couldn't win the 1v1 challenges on the field and I told both teams that if you win the 1v1 challenges, you win the game.  That is how it works."

                WNCC outshot LCCC 10-9. LCCC had five shots on goal while WNCC had four shots on frame.

                LCCC had just one corner kick in the contest while the Cougars had zero corner kicks.

                Rasnic said they just didn't show up, especially in the second half.

                "We just didn't play well enough to win the game," he said. "That is all you can say. We didn't show up to play at the right level at the right time."

                The Cougar women will be back in action Friday when they travel to face Otero Junior College at 9 a.m. in Pueblo, Colorado. The Cougar women will then face Trinidad State College on Saturday.