SPRING CREEK — The Spring Creek girls soccer team finds itself on a three-game winning streak after a 2-1 win against Lowry on Wednesday in Spring Creek.
The Spartans' hot streak puts them in third place in league play with only a handful of games remaining the regular season.
Lowry has dropped five matches in a row and is 3-7-1 in the Northern 3A and in seventh place. The top five teams qualify for the regional tournament.
The first half featured a lot of back and forth play around midfield as both teams struggled to gain any offensive control. The first half ended with a scoreless tie with only a few scoring chances going either way.
Play opened up a bit in the second half as the Lady Spartans were able to put some more shots on goal. Spring Creek had two shots on goal in the first 40 minutes but came away six in the second half.
Spring Creek head coach Kami Crowe said some injuries took some of the energy out of her team but was pleased with the way they responded in the second half.
“We started out slow. We had a couple of last minute injuries in warm-ups that were not expected,” she said. “But, we came out and the second half was a much better half for us so we’ll take it.”
Spring Creek finally made it onto the score sheet in the 56th minute when Kaitlyn McLeod finished a crossing pass from Kayla Jones.
The goal temporarily gave Spring Creek the lead but Lowry would not go down quietly.
The Lady Buckaroos applied pressure for the next 20 minutes in their search for the equalizer. They were able to break through when a soft shot was mishandled by goalkeeper Samantha Pemelton.
Spring Creek’s defenders failed to clear the ball out of the box and Hailey Fernandez capitalized on a shot from in close in the 74th minute.
Crowe said the defense had been solid for the most part but needed to do a better job of communicating on that play so the ball could be cleared out more quickly.
“I think we just had a communication error right there and the players agreed,” she said. “It wasn’t anything that couldn’t have been stopped, we just miscommunicated.”
Lowry had their own defensive blunder, committing a foul in the penalty box. Spring Creek’s efforts were rewarded when McLeod finished her penalty shot, putting it to the opposite side of the diving keeper and giving her team the winning goal in the 77th minute.
Lowry’s offense also came together in the second half and put seven shots on goal in the game. However, thanks to a solid Lady Spartans defense, the Lady Buckaroos were forced to rush their shots and put a number of them over and wide of the goal.
As her team appears to be headed for a playoff birth, Crowe said her players have been elevating their games despite the injuries.
“Where we are at, we are doing good. We have to baby sit some injuries but other than that, it’s going well,” she said. “We’re stepping up and having a better second half to the season.”
Lowry looks to get back on the winning track this weekend with a pair of road matches.
The Lady Bucks took on North Tahoe on Friday afternoon and results were not available at press time.
Lowry takes on Incline today (Saturday) at 10 a.m. Lowry's home finale is Wednesday against Elko at 4 p.m. It will also be senior day.
