After having no postseason tournament last year due to the pandemic, the Lowry High School boys soccer team had the opportunity to host the Northern 3A Regional Championship this past weekend.
The Buckaroos played every team in the Northern 3A this season – except one – their opponent this past Thursday on Jerry Tobin Field.
South Tahoe came into the tournament as the No. 3 seed from the Northern 3A West, while Lowry was the No. 2 seed from the Northern 3A East.
The two teams were set to play at the end of August, but the massive Caldor Fire in the Lake Tahoe area forced the Vikings out of their school and town.
The match was never made up. However, these two teams have a checkered past throughout years and the Thursday regional match was no different.
In a match of ups-and-downs and momentum shifts, South Tahoe scored the final three goals of the day to win 4-1 and end Lowry’s season.
“The performance from the team today was amazing,” said LHS coach Steve Swanson. “It was a good year for us. The record is a little deceptive because we were missing so many guys at the start of the year. This group of kids are so talented. I am proud of them.”
Already down its top scorer in Andrew Bravo, who received a red card in the regular season finale against Spring Creek, Lowry suffered another blow 15 minutes into the match, as goalie Marco Ruiz was red-carded for playing the ball with his hands and interfering with a clear scoring opportunity by an offensive player outside the box.
South Tahoe made a rush toward the goal in the early part of the match when Ruiz came out to make the play.
After a collision outside the box, play was stopped and Ruiz was shown the red card and Lowry played with 10 players for the final 65 minutes.
Playing a man down and after a number of South Tahoe chances at the net, the match remained scoreless at halftime.
“That was probably the bravest and most impressive 25 minutes of soccer we played all year,” Swanson said. “We took everything South Tahoe threw at us and came right back. We lose our goalie on a red card; another goalie gets hurt and we throw a freshman in there as well.”
The Vikings broke the scoreless tie in the 48th minute after a long pass and breakaway opportunity that led to a 1-0 advantage.
Two minutes later, Lowry was right back in the match as senior Omar Castaneda took a pass from fellow senior Jordan Wirthlin and powered the ball in the back of the net.
South Tahoe took the lead for good in the 55th minute and extended the margin to 3-1 in the 67th minute off a corner kick and a header that found the back of the net.
“That was probably the back-breaker for us,” Swanson said. “You have to give South Tahoe credit. It was a great finish off a set piece. Very few goalies are going to stop that. I Can tell you Gabriel (Mendoza) had no idea he would be in goals for us today. As a freshman, he stepped up big for us. He probably played less than 30 minutes as a goalie in his life and had to come into a tough situation. He played his butt off.”
South Tahoe capitalized on another breakaway opportunity in the 72nd minute for the final goal of the minute.
“I think we just got tired at the end and playing with 10 guys caught up to us,” Swanson said. “That goal off the corner kick took a lot out of us. We continued to play strong defense but when you play defense for the entire game, you just wear down. Down a man, we really could get anything going on the attack and they were content on play keep away from us for the last 20 minutes.”
Lowry finished the year at 7-11-2 overall and 7-1-2 in the Northern 3A East.
