Fallon captain Savannah Sweeney, left, takes posession from Lowry's Hailey Hinkle in the tie game on Saturday afternoon at home.
The Lady Wave soccer squad had a challenging, but not fruitless, weekend to start its season. After a tough 7-1 loss at Truckee beginning league play, Fallon took on Lowry at home and tied the match with a goal at the minute and 55 second mark in the second half.
Fallon (0-1-1 overall and Division 3A) has its next chance to chalk up a win at home against North Tahoe on Friday at 5 p.m., a team it hasn’t seen for a few years, though, Wave coach Lance Lattin said he doesn’t anticipate anything less than what he saw against Lowry.
The Lady Wave player with the game saving tie-goal was junior varsity’s Madison Guerrero who played with Fallon in the Elko tournament and was welcomed openly by the varsity squad at this match as well.
“They’re an amazing team and I’m so happy and grateful I got to participate in this match,” Guerrero said of the Lady Wave. “They’re very supportive, since I’m a freshman and a young player, and they help me, teach me, and pass to me which is really nice. They support me in so many ways and teach me so many things and I want to thank them so much.”
Fallon faced Lowry a week ago in the Elko tournament according to Lattin, who said he knew this match would be close and tough.
“Lowry is a relatively fast team, they play aggressively, but the games between us for the last year have been tight and physical,” he said. “We’ve developed a bit of a rivalry there and its kind of fun to watch.”
The Lady Wave’s defense was forced to body block the major breakaways to prevent a major Lowry onslaught, though, with the first half barely leaving Fallon territory it was only matter of time until the Lady Bucks’ Bailey Sapien scored a corner kick which grazed past the Lady Wave goalkeeper’s fingertips. The rest of the half looked like a narrow victory for Lowry until Fallon’s comeback.
Lowry coach Ed Partee said he saw his team tighten up play from their season opener, and believes his players did well against a competitive Fallon team which went nearly undefeated last year.
“They’ve improved quite a bit,” Partee said of Fallon. “They’re moving the ball a little bit better, we just need to tighten it up a little bit more and we’ll go into another good competition with them.”
Partee said he saw a good offensive presence in his team this game, but would’ve liked to see more shots on goal with only one point to show for 12 attempts, inverse to the Lady Wave’s nine shots.
The only real blow the Lady Bucks took this round was when senior midfield McKenna Jones took a hard contact fall and a tear to the knee which may jeopardize her playing time.
“She’s going to be alright but we’ll have to get her checked out,” Partee said. “She took a pretty good tear so we’ll see how it all plays.”
In its second league game, a tie is a welcome trade for a loss, though, Lattin said the Lady Wave spent the match against Truckee chasing the ball. A more even match with an opponent like Lowry was a needed change of pace.
“I was very happy with their efforts today,” Lattin said of his team. “We’re a fairly young team and have a lot to learn, for us it’s a matter of how quickly we can grow and how quickly can we make that learning curve go up.”
While control is the biggest factor holding back the Lady Wave’s biggest workshop?
“We’ve got a list of things, but immediately what we have to work on his controlling the ball a little better so when we win the ball we keep possession longer,” he said.