The Lowry High School boys soccer team has gotten off to a quick start this year but faced a team that has been a thorn in its side for the past couple of years.
The Buckaroos have had their challenges in beating Spring Creek in the past.
But that changed Tuesday night in Winnemucca, as Lowry scored twice in the first half and used a late penalty kick to hold on to beat Spring Creek 3-1.
“It’s a win that I wanted bad,” said LHS coach Steve Swanson. “It’s one of our bigger rivals and we have had our troubles with them. We had not beaten them in a couple years, but you can’t say that anymore. It’s not that we beat them with the score, but the boys played very well today. They played the way I wanted them to.”
Lowry grabbed the early lead in the seventh minute on goal by Andrew Bravo that was assisted by Christian Cuevas. That advantage nearly went away in the 15th minute, as Spring Creek had an open net in front of them. Buckaroo goalie Angel Galarza came out to play the ball, only to see the Spartans’ offensive rush get past him. However, Spring Creek could not finish off the goal.
In the 19th minute, Lowry’s Daniel Fernandez and Anthony Cuevas broke free for a scoring chance but the shot by Anthony Cuevas just missed. Anthony Cuevas did not miss in the 25th minute, as he took a pass from Giovanni Sapien and connected with the back of the net for a 2-0 lead. The Buckaroos kept that same margin going into halftime.
Spring Creek made the match interesting in the second half, as Alex Estrada nailed a free kick from about 25 yards out, following a foul on the Lowry defense.
“You have to give him credit on that free kick,” Swanson said. “He placed it perfect and we could not do anything about that. The nice thing was that they had just one more shot on goal. Our defense came up big today.”
Lowry tacked on the insurance goal it needed in the 68th minute, when Anthony Cuevas scored on a penalty kick, after Spring Creek was called for a foul in the box.
“We had fun today and that is what I want to see from the kids,” added the coach.
Lowry improved to 5-2-1 in the Northern 3A ‘A’ division and are in second place in the league with one match left in the first half of the season. Sparks leads the league at 7-0 and South Tahoe is second at 4-1. The Buckaroos are off this weekend and are back home Tuesday to play Elko at 5 p.m. Lowry will play seven of its final nine matches on the road.
“There is still room for improvement for us,” Swanson said. “We need to pick it up a little bit.
Lowry falls
to South Tahoe
Lowry traveled to South Tahoe on Friday, Sept. 13 and lost 5-0 to the Vikings.
“That was probably our worst match of the year,” Swanson said. “We gave a couple early goals and never recovered. We have to learn to play better getting off the bus. We have seven road games to end the year. We have to play better getting of the bus.”
Lowry routs Incline
Lowry shook off its loss to South Tahoe and beat Incline 4-1 on Saturday, Sept. 14. The Buckaroos scored two goals in each half to secure the win.
