The past couple of weeks have been tough on the Lowry High School boys soccer team, with injuries taking their toll on the squad. In addition, goals have been hard to come by, with just one shot finding the net in the last five matches.
The task wasn’t any easier this past weekend as Lowry hosted North Tahoe and Incline. With the injuries mounting, the Buckaroos brought up three players from the junior varsity team.
“We are going through a tough stretch right now,” said LHS coach Steve Swanson. “We have had some bad luck the past couple of weeks. Injuries have hurt us right now. This weekend we were down three of our best guys.”
Lowry suffered a 6-0 loss to North Tahoe on Friday and a 5-2 defeat to Incline on Saturday. Lowry is now 2-8-1 in the Northern 3A, with playoff hopes slipping away.
Lakers blank Buckaroos
League-leading North Tahoe visited Winnemucca on Friday afternoon and shut out the Buckaroos. The Lakers improved to 10-0 in the Northern 3A by scoring three goals apiece in each half.
Lowry falls to Incline
After struggling to score goals for the past few weeks, Lowry caught its break a minute into Saturday’s match against Incline. Nathan Kepler gave the Buckaroos a 1-0 lead, scoring off a corner kick.
The lead did not last long, as Incline’s Adrian Banuelos scored in an open net in the fifth minute to tie the game at 1-1. Banuelos gave the Highlanders a 2-1 advantage in the 21st minute and Incline did not trail again.
Incline added a third goal in the 33rd minute to go up 3-1. The score stayed the same until the 54th minute, when the Highlanders tacked on a fourth goal.
Lowry did not go away and cut the deficit in half in the 59th minute. Austin Lloyd, one of the players up from the JV team, led a run down the field that led to a goal by Anthony Cuevas.
Lloyd passed the ball through the middle of the field and Cuevas headed the ball in.
However, that was as close as Lowry got the rest of the day.
The Buckaroos host Churchill County on Wednesday at 4 p.m. and travel to South Tahoe on Saturday for a noon start.
Lowry is in seventh place in the league standings. The top five teams advance to the regional tournament in Winnemucca from Nov. 2-4.
The top six teams in the Northern 3A are: North Tahoe (10-0-0), Truckee (8-2-0), Sparks (7-1-1), Spring Creek (4-4-2), Elko (4-6-0) and South Tahoe (3-3-2) .
