WINNEMUCCA - If you looked at last weekend's results in Truckee, you would see three losses for the Lowry High School varsity soccer team but that is not the whole story.
Even though the Buckaroos did not pick up a win at the Mount Rose crossovers, head coach Steve Swanson was pleased with the effort of his squad. Lowry lost 7-2 to Sparks, the defending Division I-A state champion, on Friday, Sept. 7. Later that night Truckee, the state runner-up from a year ago, defeated the Buckaroos 7-0. Lowry closed out the weekend with a 5-3 loss to South Tahoe, after leading the Vikings 3-1 at halftime.
"In the 12 years of coaching, the match with Sparks was the best game we have played as a program," said LHS head coach Steve Swanson. "We lost, but scored two legitimate goals. Not very many teams score on these guys. A majority of their goals were on shots outside the box. They were bombing us with long shots, and we weren't expecting that."
Lowry (1-4-1 overall, 0-3-0 Division I-A North) kept Sparks off the board until the 26th minute, when the Railroaders' Kevin Partida scored the first goal of the game. The Buckaroos' Carlos Aguilar quickly countered with the equalizing goal three minutes later to tie the game.
Sparks answered with two more goals by Partida in the 31st and 35th minute to increase the lead to 3-1, and the Railroaders added another goal before the half for a 4-1 advantage. Joseph Dominquez scored in the 55th and 68th minutes of the second half to make the score 6-1.
Trailing 7-1 late in the match, Luis Hernandez put the Buckaroos back on the scoreboard, accounting for the final score.
"It wasn't like Sparks dominated us," Swanson said. "It was a close-fought game, and everyone was impressed with the play and effort that we gave. It was a good match played by both teams. Sparks is a very good team and the state champions for a reason."
Later that night Lowry met up with Truckee and were shut out by the Wolverines. Truckee scored six times in the first 40 minutes of the match.
"I deemphasized the Truckee match," Swanson said. "We put a lot into the Sparks match and I wanted to beat South Tahoe the next day. I played the subs quite a bit. Truckee scored a couple of goals off corner kicks and that is something we have to work on. They are a high-energy team."
Ruben Diaz put Truckee on the board with a goal off an assist by Colten Roderigue in the fifth minute. Austin Simonpietri scored 60 seconds later, and Roderigue added a goal in the 15th minute. Nash McMullen scored off an assist from Thomas Arnstein in the 21st minute, and Rolando Zarate scored off an assist from Roderigue in the 29th minute. Jesse Fereira was assisted by Jose Sarabia in the 32nd minute, and Truckee added its final goal in the 51st minute.
"They have some size and were a lot bigger than us," said the coach. "They are a very good team and better than we are. It wasn't our best effort, but the goal was not to get anyone hurt. It's two weeks into the season and we have nobody hurt, which is a good sign. I am really happy about that."
A week ago, Lowry lost 5-0 to South Tahoe in Fallon, but the second matchup was a much different story. The Vikings scored three minutes into Saturday's match, only to see the Buckaroos score the next three goals.
"We made some mistakes the first time we played them in Fallon and we should have beaten them," Swanson said. "We gave up that first goal and it was like, here we go again. After that, the guys buckled down and played hard."
Trailing 1-0, Lowry picked up goals from Aguilar and Hernandez to take a 2-1 lead. With about three minutes to go in the first half, South Tahoe attempted to drop the ball to its goalie from about 40 yards out, but dropped it in the back of the net for an own goal, giving the Buckaroos a 3-1 halftime advantage.
"I thought we had the game won and told the kids that at halftime," Swanson said. "'I told them that we had to turn it on.' All they heard was that we have this game won and we went out and played horrible for 20 minutes."
South Tahoe scored three goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half to lead a 4-3 and added a late insurance goal for the two-goal victory.
"We played better later in the second half, but South Tahoe was down and out and we brought them back to life," said the coach. "We let them step up all over us in the second half. We know we can play with anybody. The thing is, sometimes we don't and we learned that as well."
Lowry travels to Elko today and Saturday for three Lahontan League crossover matches. The Buckaroos play Dayton today at 3 p.m. and Fernley and Churchill County Saturday at 11 a.m. and 3 p.m., respectively.
[[In-content Ad]]
