WINNEMUCCA - With the regular season rapidly coming to a close, the Lowry High School girls soccer team is looking to take its play to the next level.
If Saturday's match with White Pine is any indication, schools in the Ruby Mountain League better watch out. The Lady Bucks dominated the action for much of the match, coming away with a 2-0 win over the Lady Bobcats.
"That was our best game of soccer all year," said LHS head coach Chris Entwistle. "It was a complete game from, goalkeeping to defense and controlling the ball with beautiful touch passes. White Pine is a very talented team that beat Spring Creek and played Elko scoreless for a half. They have given us trouble in the past. This was a very good win for us. That is the kind of soccer we love to play."
All of the scoring came within the first 25 minutes of the match, with the credit going to the arms of junior Allison Walker.
"Allison was our man of the match," Entwistle said. "She played great today and was all over the field. She has been unstoppable in the last three matches. She is playing lights out. At the Elko crossover, she told me 'that she is out of shape and couldn't keep up with the other girls.' I knew that was impossible and figured something else was wrong. She went to the doctor and found out she has sports asthma and now has an inhaler and is fine."
In the 22nd minute, Walker threw the ball into the box, where it was kicked out of the air by sophomore Monique Rodriguez and into the net for a 1-0 lead for Lowry.
Three minutes later, Walker threw another ball in to play that hit a White Pine player in the arm, resulting in a penalty kick for Lowry.
Monica Gallarzo put the free shot into the back of the net for the final goal of the game.
"You could not have placed that throw in to Monique any better than she did," added the coach. "We got lucky on the hand ball and that is how things go at times. That second goal made me feel a lot better. I was still hoping to get one more, because I know White Pine was capable of making a comeback."
The Lady Bobcats had a couple of opportunities and had two shots go off the crossbar off of deflections by Lowry goalkeeper Savannah Ingram.
"When you are not seeing a lot of action, those are tough to stop," said the coach. "The wind was blowing a bit and that can cause troubles as well."
Lowry (6-6-2 overall, 2-5-1 Division I-A, 4-1 Ruby Mountain) opened the weekend with a 12-0 win over West Wendover. The Wolverines are in their first year of playing soccer and a majority of their players are underclassmen. They have just three seniors on the team.
The Lady Bucks scored five times in the first 40 minutes of play and added seven goals in the second half.
Alyssa Jones picked up her first career hat trick with three goals to go with one assist. Ashley McKinnon, Megan Lombardi and Rodriguez each scored twice. Irdiana Sapien, Anna Davis and Walker each had one goal.
"We came out and played one of our sloppier first halves of the year," said the coach. "There is a way to be up 5-0 and look good doing it, and there is a way to be up 5-0 and not look good as a unit and we did that. We looked awkward and had trouble getting going."
Lowry travels to Battle Mountain today for a 2 p.m. match and is back on the road Saturday to face Elko at 11 a.m.
"If we can play like we did against White Pine in the final five games of the year, things will be looking up for us," Entwistle said. "We have to take care of business in the second half of our league schedule. We are still looking to get a good spot in the playoffs."
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