Oasis swept at state tourney

Oasis first trip to the state tournament was a learning process.

The Bighorns were swept by Greenspun and Mount Rose on Saturday at Spanish Springs High School. Oasis lost 15-3 to Greenspun and 10-6 to Mount Rose in a game filled with questionable calls.

Oasis, though, entered the tournament the No. 1 seed from the North, but Greenspun’s speed and faceoff skills were too much to overcome. Greenspun won the first and used the momentum to score.

Greenspun moved the ball quickly into the offensive zone and scored each time with long distance shots. After a goalie change, the Bighorns managed to start to turn things around with a faceoff win and much better ball movement.

Eventually, midifelder Trent Thorn got the Bighorns on the board with a goal. Greenspun, though, stopped any comeback with a pair of faceoff wins.

The Bighorns settled down a bit in the second quarter and produced another spectacular passing play ending in a goal by attackman Trey Rooks. From that point on, however, the more experienced team from Las Vegas managed to control the bulk of the play and pulled away. Attackman Dakota Welch finished the scoring for the Bighorns as Oasis was eliminated from title contention.

The Bighorns were ready to turn things around, but unfortunately a series of questionable penalties put the Bighorns down a man or two for much of the first half against Mount Rose.

Oasis fell behind early to the Rattlers, but mounted a comeback each time. Again confounded by a bizarre series of penalties, the Bighorns had to regroup once more. Attackman Nick Delgado beat the Rattlers goalie on a beautiful bounce shot that slipped in just under the crossbar and lifted the twine above the goal, but the goal was waived off because neither referee saw the ball go in.

This series of events rattled the players and they started missing the goal on open shots. Still, the game was within reach until midfielder Tristan Rodarte was flagged three times on the same play for slashing on a series of stick-to-stick checks, all occurring in under 2 seconds.

The 5 minutes in penalties was enough to eject Rodarte from the game, leaving the Bighorns to mount a comeback missing one of the league’s best faceoff midfielders. Shortly after, starting goalie Brendan Leary was knocked out of the game by a rocket of a shot off his knee.

Still, the Bighorns never gave up. Rooks took Rodarte’s place at midfield and scored, but the Bighorns ran out of time.

In between the boys games, the Bighorns girls beat the Reno Wildfires, 7-5, at Spanish Springs High School. The Bighorns started right off on top with goals from attackers Kailena Vasquez, Maiya Swan and Madi Whitaker for a 3-0 lead.

The Wildfires fought back to tie the game at the end of the first half. Going into the second half Whitaker quickly seized the draw taking it down to score a goal followed by a goal from Vasquez for a 5-3 lead.

The Wildfires came back to score two goals to tie the game again. However, Oasis midfielders Brooklyn Whitaker and Emma Robinson had shots on goal but couldn’t get them past their goaltender.

Gaining possession of the draw two more times allowed Madi Whitaker to charge down and score two goals to seal the win. Goaltender Jayden Jensen had four saves, while goaltender Audrey Rasmussen had three.

Both boys teams are back to their regular season on Thursday against the Rattlers in Fallon, weather and field conditions permitting.