After what I felt was a debacle of a year in 2006, I knew we needed new attitudes and new personnel to make Western Wyoming a legitimate contender for the Region IX title. We had a lot of local recruits, from southwest Wyoming, like Tyler Cox, Allen Deru, Colt Klements and Chase Talbot from Evanston WY, Eric Nieters and Michael "Mini" Menegassi from Green River WY and Ashby McCort, Chad Zueck, Jon Allen and Patrick Ritter from Rock Springs WY. We also got some recruits from different parts of the Cowboy state like Micah Draney from Auburn WY, Matt Fagerland and Brandon Schimelpfenig from Buffalo WY with Wyatt Thurston from Lander WY. WWCC also started to use the talent in the state of Utah to their benefit, the recruits from Utah were Dennis Sellis from Hunter High (Taylorsville UT), Sam Taylor and Alex Korth from Box Elder High (Brigham City UT) and the Fab Four from Snow Canyon High (St. George UT) Nic Gonzalez, Chance Trotter, Matt Kolar and Derek Stewart. We spent a lot of time at the beginning of the year to come together as a team. We had two slogans for the year, TEAM FIRST, TEAM ALWAYS. The other slogan was PAY THE PRICE TO LIVE THE DREAM. This team took this slogans to heart and posted a lot of firsts for the program.
Here is the 2007 Team Roster
#0 - Matt Fagerland - Freshman - Keeper
#2 - Matt Kolar - Freshman - Defense
#3 - Tyler Cox - Sophomore - Midfield
#4 - Ashby McCort - Sophomore - Midfield/Defense
#5 - Michael "Mini" Menegassi - Freshman - Defense
#7 - Allen Deru - Freshman - Midfield
#8 - Wyatt Thurston - Freshman - Forward
#9 - Sam Taylor - Freshman - Defense
#10 - Derek Stewart - Freshman - Forward
#11 - Jon Allen - Freshman - Midfield
#12 - Chas Zueck - Sophomore - Midfield
#13 - Colt Klements - Freshman - Midfield
#14 - Alex Korth - Freshman - Midfield/Defense
#15 - Brandon Schimelpfenig - Sophomore - Forward
#17 - Eric Nieters - Sophomore - Midfield
#18 - Dennis Sellis - Freshman - Forward
#19 - Chance Trotter - Freshman - Midfield/Defense
#20 - Chase Talbot - Freshman - Midfield
#21 - Nic Gonzalez - Freshman - Defense
#25 - Patrick Ritter - Freshman - Defense
#26 - Micah Draney - Freshman - Keeper
#88 - Shawn Coryell - Freshman - Keeper
Head Coach - Jeff Atkinson
Assistant Coach - Tyler Gilmore
Student Trainers - Nora Harlow and Jared Miller
Athletic Director - Jackie Freeze
2007 Schedule and Results
Team Record (8 - 9 - 2)
8/24/07 vs University of Great Falls @ Great Falls MT - L (2 - 3) OT
8/30/07 vs Rocky Mountain Xpress @ Kaysville UT - L (3 - 4)
9/1/07 vs Central Wyoming @ Rock Springs WY - W (9 - 0)
9/5/07 vs Western Nebraska @ Rock Springs WY - W (4 - 3) OT
9/6/07 vs LCCC @ Cheyenne WY - T (2 - 2) OT
9/11/07 vs Northwest College @ Powell WY - W (8 - 0)
9/14/07 vs University of Wyoming @ Laramie WY - L (0 - 2)
9/19/07 vs Central Wyoming @ Riverton WY - W (11 - 0)
9/22/07 vs Sheridan College @ Sheridan WY - W (14 - 0)
9/26/07 vs Colorado Mountain College @ Glenwood Springs CO - L (2 - 3)
9/27/07 vs Cloud County (KS) @ Glenwood Springs CO - W (3 - 1)
9/28/07 vs Air Force Prep @ Glenwood Springs CO - T (3 - 3)
10/3/07 vs Rocky Mountain Xpress @ Rock Springs WY - L (1 - 2)
10/5/07 vs LCCC @ Rock Springs WY - L (0 - 7)
10/6/07 vs Northwest College @ Rock Springs WY - W (4 - 3)
10/9/07 vs Western Nebraska @ Scottsbluff NE - L (1 - 4)
10/12/07 vs University of Great Falls @ Rock Springs WY - L (3 - 4) OT
10/13/07 vs Sheridan College @ Rock Springs WY - W (14 - 0)
10/19/07 vs Western Nebraska @ Scottsbluff NE - L (0 - 1)
2007 WWCC Year in Review
The 2007 team was a team of many firsts and many records. We finished the regular season in Region IX in second place their highest regular season finish ever. We got our first Region IX victory ever with an overtime win versus Western Nebraska and we got our first points off of LCCC in the region when we tied them in Cheyenne WY. We scored more goals than any previous year, we also had more victories than any other intercollegiate team in WWCC history.
On an individual basis we had a lot of success and a lot of recognition. Dennis Sellis was the leading scorer in the nation for NJCAA and also the leading point getters in the nation for NJCAA. Dennis was an unanimous 1st team All-Region IX Player. Due to a typo at the Region IX office he was not able to be recognized as an All-American but I am sure he would have been 1st team All-American. Another forward that got some recognition was Derek Stewart, he was 2nd team All-Region IX. Before his injury he was ranked in the top 50 in the nation for scoring. Eric Nieters was a midfielder who was WWCC's first repeat 1st team All-Region IX Player. Chad Zueck was also recognized as a 2nd team All-Region IX Player. Chance Trotter was also voted onto the 2nd team All-Region IX Team as a freshman in the midfield position. WWCC had three defenders who were placed on the All-Region teams; Nic Gonzalez has voted in the 1st team while Sam Taylor and Matt Kolar were 2nd team players.
Many of the players on the 2007 team moved on after just one year, we wish them luck and hope to have many of them back as soon as we can. Dennis Sellis - transferred to Penn State on a soccer scholarship. Derek Stewart - served an LDS mission to Finland. Chance Trotter - served an LDS mission to Mexico and Matt Kolar served an LDS mission to Puerto Rico.
