After having no action in the first week of the season, the Lowry High School boys soccer team was finally able to get on the field this past weekend at the Spring Creek Jamboree.
The Buckaroos won one of three games over the two days, earning an 11-0 win over the Spring Creek JV. The younger group of Spartans played in the tournament after Churchill County dropped out.
Lowry lost its first game of the season, 2-0 to Jerome, Idaho, on Friday, Sept. 4, and then got the win over Spring Creek later in the day. In the only action on Saturday, the Buckaroos lost 7-2 to Elko.
“Overall, we didn’t play too bad,” said LHS coach Steve Swanson. “We found what we need to work on and are fixing that in practice. We are going to change up the rotation a little bit. Offensively, except for the Spring Creek game we had trouble getting going.”
Against Jerome, the Tigers scored one goal apiece in each half, but Swanson was pleased with how the Buckaroos played.
“They had already played in one tournament and have a few matches underneath them,” Swanson said. “We were working out some bugs, but I thought our defense played well.”
Jerome’s first goal came from a long shot into the corner of the net. The coach added that it was a great shot that no one was going to stop. The Tigers added their second goal in the early minutes of the second half, when Lowry’s goalie slipped and fell to the ground, allowing the ball to go in the net.
The Buckaroos dominated play against the Spring Creek JV, scoring often throughout the contest.
“I tried my best not to run up the score,” added the coach. “My starting strikers only scored a goal apiece. I tried to dial it back. I had defenders playing striker and I had my younger goalkeepers in. We just couldn’t keep the score down. It got away from us.”
To finish out the tournament, Lowry got an early look at league rival Elko. The contest was back-and-forth in the first 40 minutes with the scored tied at 2-2. The Indians got on the board in the first half on goals from Jonathan Young and Richard Adomako. Adomako’s goal was off a penalty kick after a Lowry hand ball in the box.
Ariel Gonzalez and Jesus Escobedo scored the goals for the Buckaroos in the first half.
“We were really excited where we were,” Swanson said. “We were playing well on both sides of the ball. We had our JV goalie in there because Sergio (Lopez) got hurt in the Jerome match and he was doing a good job.”
An early injury in the second half to Trevor Burroughs forced the Buckaroos to change some things up on the field and Elko took advantage, with five goals to break the match open.
“We made some mistakes on defense that allowed a couple of goals and we never got back in the game,” said the coach. “We got rattled late in the game and could never recover.”
Lowry opened Division I-A North play on Wednesday against Fernley. Results were not available at press time. The Buckaroos host Churchill County on Saturday at noon.
