Fallon's Britney Wallace challenges a Lowry defender for the ball during the Lady Wave's 2-1 win on Tuesday at the Edward Arciniega Complex.
It was not the cleanest win, but the Fallon girls soccer team will take it.
The Lady Wave bested Lowry, 2-1, on Tuesday in a Northern Division I-A match at the Edward Arciniega Complex.
Fallon improves to 1-0 in league and 4-4 overall, while Lowry falls to 0-1 and 1-1-1.
“It wasn’t pretty,” Fallon coach Kelly Spicer said. “We had minutes where we were kicking the ball just to kick it … and a lot of chasing. We will correct that for next week.”
Fallon’s pressure was continuous in the offensive end as the Lady Wave racked up a dozen shots, although only two found the back of the net.
The defense, meanwhile, shackled the Buckaroos throughout most of the match as Lowry was unable to generate much of an attack through the first 57 minutes. Conversely, Fallon came in waves and shot after shot either went just wide or sailed just high over the goal.
The Lady Wave, though, broke through in the 14th minute when Kayla Biggs came down the left side and floated a shot over Lowry goalkeeper Jasmine Marchand and harmlessly bounced into the net to give Fallon a 1-0 lead.
Before Biggs’ breakthrough, Fallon’s offense hindered by a trio of offsides calls. Once the forwards integrated with Lowry’s backline, the shots starting pouring down.
Fallon’s Melinda Fagunes slid a pass to a streaking Macy Myers in the 19th minute but Myers’ shot fly over the crossbar.
“The offense has to step up and score more,” Spicer said. “I counted five that went over the goal. We got to drive the ball and will work on that.”
Twelve minutes later, Kailey Davis uncorked a blast that, again, went high. Myers then fed a cross to Brianna Vezina in the goalbox, but Vezina couldn’t get a foot on the ball.
In the second half, it was much of the same as Fallon had its chances and wide open looks but couldn’t convert. Rebecca Mills and Fagundes each fired shots wide, while Myers drilled a shot into the arms of Lowry’s goalkeeper.
Myers was again denied by the keeper in the 54th minutes, but Mills followed two minutes later with the Lady Wave’s second goal.
Mills took a rebound in the box and drilled a shot low through the masses for a 2-0 lead.
Lowry, though, answered with a goal of its own on a penalty kick when Monique Rodriguez was fouled in the box by Mayzie Jones in the 57th minute.
“The defense played good,” Spicer said. “They kept us together and that’s why we will win a lot of games.”
After the goal, Lowry’s offense picked up the pace and its presence in Fallon’s defensive zone. The Buckaroos ripped off two more shots, but goalkeeper Cheyenne Sweeney was up to the task.
Fallon’s offense, meanwhile, let numerous opportunities slip through the cracks as several shots were taken from too far out.
“Know your limitations,” Spicer said. “We had people kicking outside the box who shouldn’t be shooting from outside the box.”
The Lady Wave host perennial power Truckee at 5 p.m. on Tuesday. Fallon lost to Truckee in the Galena Tournament 7-1 in August.
Boys soccer drop Bucks
The Fallon boys took down Lowry, 3-1, in the Northern DI-A opener for both clubs.
The Greenwave (1-0 league, 2-1-1 overall) was led by two goals from Tristan Parrott and one from Fidel Enriquez. Trevor Davis added two assists for Fallon.
Goalkeeper Miguel Perez tallied five saves, while the Fallon offense unleashed more than 15 shots.
“We had quite a few good shots, but really started turning them into great shots later in the first half and second half,” Fallon coach Nate Waite said. “I thought we did better with some things, but still are struggling on being properly organized and still get a little excited at times in our choices of ball movement.”
Fallon returns to action on Tuesday at 3 p.m. in Truckee.