A short-handed Lowry High School boys soccer team found themselves unexpectedly hosting a match this weekend.
The Buckaroos were scheduled to travel to Minden and Douglas High School on Saturday, but due the Caldor Fire, the match was moved to Winnemucca.
Douglas is also a new team on the schedule and a member of the Northern 3A West, as part of the new NIAA realignment. Douglas is still in the Northern 5A I most other sports.
After a scoreless tie in the first 40 minutes of play, Douglas scored two second-half goals to beat Lowry 2-1.
With the loss, the Buckaroos dropped to 0-1 in league play and 0-5 overall. Lowry was without a handful of its roster and moved some JV players up for the contest.
“We are going to power through it for the next couple of weeks,” said LHS coach Steve Swanson, “The JV kids that played, did a good job. We played four games in the Spring Creek tournament with 12 guys. Part of the problem is we have guys hurt from that weekend.”
Scoring chances were few and far between in the first half, when Douglas got on the board in the 51st minute off a corner kick.
Four minutes later, the Buckaroos tied the match at 1-1, when Andrew Bravo collected a Tiger turnover in the box and senior found the back of the net.
Douglas used another corner kick in the 60th minute to score the game winning goal.
Lowry had a couple opportunities late in the match, but could nor find the net for a game-tying goal.
In the 76th minute, Bravo had a penalty kick for the Buckaroos, but his shot hit off the top cross bar and bounced away.
“Corner kick defense is going to be the theme in practice this week,” Swanson said. “We have to be able to defend that better. That is a tough way to lose, when you give up two corner kicks like that. We will be better next week. We will get some our guys back and be a different team.”
Lowry is scheduled to host perennial power Truckee on Friday at 4:45 p.m. and Reno on Saturday at 11:45.
The Huskies have also dropped to the Northern 3A West in boys soccer, while the rest of its teams are still in the 5A.
