If anyone has a four-leaf clover or a rabbit’s foot, you can give it to the Lowry High School boys soccer team for safe keeping. After dropping their second straight league contest, the Buckaroos could use a little luck.
Lowry played host to Elko on Wednesday night, with the Indians leaving Winnemucca with a 3-1 victory. The Buckaroos also left the match with a couple of injuries.
“That is about as goods as we can play,” said LHS coach Steve Swanson. “Elko is a good team and are second in our league right now. Both of their goals in the first half were both good goals. We played hard all the way to the end and that is more important than anything else that we play hard. We just need to get a little lick out there on the field.”
Both teams had opportunities to score in the first half, but Elko netted two goals in a three-minute span that proved to be the difference. The Indians took a 1-0 lead in the 22nd minute on a hard shot from about 20 yards out, that hit the right corner of the net. Three minutes later, Elko used a breakdown in the Lowry defense to add another goal and hold a 2-0 advantage at halftime.
The Buckaroos controlled much of the action in the second half, and finally got on the board in the 73rd minute on a penalty kick by Ariel Gonzalez. Lowry was awarded the penalty kick after a foul was called in the box.
Just seconds after the re-kick to start the match, Elko appeared to have a golden chance to go in front 3-1, but Buckaroo defender Joe Mullis was behind goalkeeper Sergio Lopez, and was able to kick the ball out of the net.
“That was a great play,” added the coach. “I am not sure how Joe got that.”
Elko was able to extend the margin to 3-1 in the 78th minute, scoring on a penalty kick of its own. Despite a couple chances in the last minutes, Lowry was unable to close the gap further.
“There was no quit out there,” Swanson said. “We are right there and I was happy with the way we played. We might not be a first or second-place team, but we are right in there for that third, fourth and fifth spot.”
With the season nearly half over, Lowry sits in fifth place in the Division I-A North at 3-2-1 and 4-4-1 overall. The top six teams advance to the regional championship in Elko.
Sparks leads the league at 5-0-1 and Elko (5-1-1) is second. South Tahoe (3-0-4) and Truckee (4-2-1) are third and fourth respectively.
Lowry is on the road this weekend and faces Truckee today at 4:30 p.m. The Buckaroos play at Sparks on Saturday at noon.
