The bad news is the Lowry High School boys soccer team has put itself behind the 8-ball in the early part of the season. The good news - the Buckaroos have a month to get back in the four-team playoff picture.
Lowry was back on its home field Tuesday against rival Elko and lost 4-0 to drop to 2-5 overall and 13-3 in the Division I-A North. The Indians scored three of those goals in a 15-minute stretch in the first half.
"We are not in the ideal spot right now," said LHS coach Steve Swanson. "You never want to start 1-3 but we have played some tough teams. We have put ourselves in a corner, but we still have time to get back in the chase for the playoffs."
Elko scored in the 10th minute, but confusion occurred off the corner kick that led to the eventual goal. As the Indians made the corner kick, a whistle was blown to stop play, giving the ball back to Lowry. However, at the same time, the side official blew her whistle and called a foul on the Buckaroos for pulling a Elko jersey and giving the Indians a penalty kick. Elko took advantage of the call and made the shot by Marcus Manuel to go in front 1-0.
"I am not sure what happened," Swanson said. "The referee blew the whistle to start play and right at the kick blew again and was going to give the ball back to us."
About six minutes later, Elko increased the lead to 2-0 after a poor clear by Lowry on its side of the field and Manuel found the open net from about 20 yards out.
The Indians closed out the scoring in the first half on a shot by Giovanni Vilalpando that scooted along the ground from 25 yards out and through a number of players in the box.
"It wasn't that we played bad in those 15 minutes, it was everything that could go wrong did in those 15 minutes," said the coach. "I thought we played well against a good team. I know we can play with them."
The Buckaroos came out as the aggressor in the second half and held much of the advantage, but could not get a shot into the back of the net. Lowry's final chance was in extra time as Jordan Diaz hot a shot off the side of the net.
Elko closed out the scoring late in the second half on a goal by Richard Adomako.
"You look at the score and yeah we lost 4-0, but I thought we played a great second half," Swanson said. "We took it to them and that's what I wanted to see. We finally got it going and bought in. They know they have to work their butt off in order to succeed."
Lowry will host Fernley on Saturday for a noon match and Spring Creek on Tuesday at 5 p.m.[[In-content Ad]]
