For the past several of years, it has seemed the Lowry High School girls soccer team has had no luck with Churchill County.
After a number of ties and one-goal losses in that time span, the Lady Bucks finally picked up a victory over the Greenwave, their first since Churchill County came back to Division I-A in 2010. Lowry accomplished the feat this past Saturday, in Fallon, with a 2-0 victory.
“It feels nice to finally beat them,” said LHS coach Melanie Rasor. “It hasn’t happened in a long time. It was pretty much equal play, but we were able to finish a couple shots.”
The Lady Bucks (2-0 Division I-A North, 4-1 overall) scored one goal each in the first and second halves. The first goal came off the foot of sophomore Bailey Sapien, after a kick from goalie Lindsay Pate.
“Lindsay saved our butt as couple of times,” said the coach. “That’s why we have her in there. She made some great saves and helped with the first goal.”
While picking up an assist, Pate delivered stellar play in the net, stopping 18 shots by Churchill County to preserve the shutout.
Lowry picked up an insurance goal in the second half when Maddie Mayo scored on a direct free kick after a Lady Buckaroo was fouled.
“We went in there knowing it was going to be a tough match,” Rasor said. Overall, we played well, especially our defense. We did a great job of covering the field, and the girls are getting better and better doing that every time out. We are going through some injuries, but we were able to utilize our subs.”
The coached praised the play of Caitlynn Cooper, at stopper, who is fighting a shin injury right now. Rasor also noted that Alyssa Campbell, Sylvie Prokasky, Cheyanna Wolicki and Melonie Martinez played well as defenders.
Lowry heads out on the road to face South Tahoe today at 5 p.m. The Vikings knocked the Lady Bucks out of the regional playoffs last year. It will be a quick trip, as Lowry comes back home on Saturday afternoon to play Dayton at noon.
“South Tahoe will be a big match for us,” Rasor said. “We will see where we are at. It will be a tough weekend though. We are going to get back late on Friday with the road trip and back on the field Saturday morning.”
