After struggling for much of last year, the first signs of the 2015 season for the Lowry High School boys soccer team are positive ones.
The Buckaroos are off to a 2-0 start in the Division I-A North after victories over Churchill County and Fernley.
Lowry made its home debut against Churchill County on Saturday afternoon and dominated the Greenwave on the field in a 3-1 win. The Buckaroos scored twice in the first 27 minutes, using a number of different formations and moving players around on the field.
“I am happy with the effort right now,” said LHS head coach Steve Swanson. “There has been a couple spots where we slacked off, but for the most part the effort has been there. We did some different things with our formation and made it work pretty good. We were overloading on our defense and overloading and pushing up on the offense. It requires a lot of communicating to do that and the guys are doing that. It’s something we aren’t going to use against all teams. It has a weakness to a counter-attacking team.”
Lowry climbed on the board in the 15th minute on a goal by Ariel Gonzalez, off a pass by Jesus Escobedo. Brian Shettler got the play going on a throw in. Just 12 minutes later, the Buckaroos increased the advantage to 2-0 on a shot to the left side of the net on a direct free kick by Escobedo after a foul on the Greenwave.
Even though Lowry controlled the possession for much of the first half, Churchill County was able to cut the deficit in half on a penalty kick on the final play of the first half in extra time. The Buckaroos fouled a Greenwave player near the net, leading to the penalty kick.
Churchill County provided few scoring chances in the second half and Lowry picked up the insurance goal it needed on a penalty kick by Jordan Diaz in the 67th minute.
“We are going to try the same thing against South Tahoe on Friday,” Swanson said. “It gives us the chance to possess the ball more. Today we did a good job of passing and communicating. It’s nice to get out to the early lead and force other teams to press. All in all, it was a pretty good day.”
Lowry hit the road to Fernley last Wednesday to begin league play and cruised to a 6-3 win.
The Buckaroos opened a 3-1 lead in the first 40 minutes of play and did not look back. Lowry started the scoring in the eighth minute on a penalty kick by Escobedo after a hand ball in the box was whistled. One minute later, the Buckaroos were back on the board on a goal by Gonzalez.
Fernley trimmed the margin to 2-1 in the 27th minute, but a second penalty kick of the first half increased the Buckaroo lead to 3-1 in the 33rd minute. This time, Diaz putt he ball in the back of the net after a Fernley foul in the box was called.
Lowry (3-2 overall, 2-0 Division I-A North) pulled out to a 4-1 advantage in the 54th minute on a goal by Ariano Aguilar on an assist by Gonzalez. What though to be a comfortable margin, turned close as the Vaqueros scored two goals in an 11-minute stretch in the second half to close the gap to 4-3. However, a minute after Fernley scored its second goal, Lowry came back with a goal less than a minute later as Aguilar scored off the kickoff off pass by Gonzalez.
Lowry added an insurance goal in the 75th minute when Gonzalez scored on an assist by Aguilar.
“We had some severe missteps in the second half that gave them a couple easy goals,” added the coach. “Their goal in the first half was a pretty good one. We dominated the possession again. The biggest problem was that we got off the gas in the second half and the play slowed down.”
Lowry hosts South Tahoe on Friday at 5 p.m. on the baseball field. The Buckaroos will move up there as, football is being played that night as well. Lowry is back at home on Saturday to play Dayton at 10 a.m.
“We are 2-0 in league and will take that,” Swanson said. “The big test will be what we can do against South Tahoe.”
