Sydney Gusewelle (12) of Fallon controls the ball against Lowry's MacKenzie Swenson in the Lady Wave’s win on Friday.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
The Lady Wave soccer team continued its hottest start in recent memory after sweeping its slate of opponents last week.
Fallon knocked off cross-valley rival Fernley, 4-0, on March 15 in Fernley before recording 7-1 and 2-0 victories over visiting Lowry and Elko on Friday and Saturday, respectively.
The Lady Wave (5-1) travels to Dayton on Friday and hosts Spring Creek on Saturday in a battle for first after the Spartans defeated Fallon earlier this month.
Tony Erquiaga/Nevada News Group
Fallon’s Cole Hamlin surveys the field against Lowry on Friday in Winnemucca.
In Fallon’s win over Fernley, Hailey Guerrero scored the first goal with an assist from Zoey Jarrett during the 25th minute, and Mattea Cortez assisted Sydney Gusewelle for the second goal of the first half.
Gusewelle attempted to score but the ball was blocked, rolling out to Guerrero who put it in from 2 yards out. Cortez dribbled down the field on the right side, crossing into the penalty box where Gusewelle intercepted a deflection from the goalie in the 31st minute.
In the second half, Bianca Lopez and Gusewelle each scored unassisted.
Lopez intercepted a Fernley pass and fired from outside the penalty box with the score bouncing off the top-left corner of the cross bar in the 50th minute. Twelve minutes later, Gusewelle scored from 6 yards out after dribbling through the Vaquero defense.
“Our attacking half maintained good possession throughout the game. We have great speed at the mid and forward positions, which helps us create a lot of scoring opportunities, but a lot of our passes and ball touches could have been better,” coach Lopez said. “I am sure the weather played a factor in that. It was cold and windy.”
Lopez said the defense was able to hold and credited Sidney Jarrett, Lilly Howard, Franny Mori and Mckenna Jaques for their performances.
Anthony Mori/Elko Daily
Fallon’s Makayle Mathisen keeps the ball from an Elko defender in Fallon’s Saturday win.
In the fifth minute, Gusewelle sent a through ball out to the right side to Shea Snodgrass, who was able to get to the ball just before the goalie. She took the shot, and the goalie was able to block it but it still rolled behind her and into the path of Hailey Guerrero, who shot it from about 3 yards out into a wide open goal for the third goal.
At the 8:30 mark, Gusewelle took the ball down the right side and crossed it into the penalty area where Guerrero was able to settle it and shot just over the goalie's hands for the fourth goal. At about the 10th minute, Mathisen dribbled the ball down the right side and crossed it into the penalty area to a running Guerrero, who was able to get her foot on it, but could not control it. Snodgrass got to the loose ball and ripped it into the top right corner for the 5 goal of the half.
In the 26th minute of the first half, Lowry was able to break through the Fallon defense and scored its only goal of the game.
At 30 seconds into the second half, Gusewelle was able to dribble the ball from midfield, through four defenders and took it all the way to the right side of the goal. She ripped a shot from about 10 yards out and across the goal for her second goal of the match. In the 78th minute, Gusewelle was able to dribble through several defenders on her way to goal and was fouled inside the penalty area. She took the penalty kick and shot it past the outreached hands of the goalie into the top right corner and completed her first hat trick of the season.
“Offensively, we had a lot of scoring opportunities and maintained possession for the better part of the game,” Lopez said. “Our defense had another solid game as we held Lowry to just one goal. We again focused on possession, communication, and being patient with the ball.”
In the team’s third and final game of the week, Fallon braved the elements – cold, windy and snow – to leave Elko with a win.
The Lady Wave also faced a test before leaving Fallon as its bus broke down, resulting in the team arriving late to its match.
“We knew Elko was going to be tough as they always play tough at home, but it seems we also had the weather against us,” Lopez said. “We were given about 15 minutes to warm up and then right to the game. It was a tough battle from the beginning. Both teams had scoring opportunities but were unable to capitalize.”
Almost 10 minutes into the game, Gusewelle was able to place a perfect through ball, Hailey Guerrero was able to catch up to and dribble uncontested to about 10 yards out and put it into the net for the first goal.
Lopez said the rest of the half was back and forth with Elko able to break through several times. One shot went wide, and another hit the post and bounced back. About 22 minutes into the second half, Vera Vaz was fouled about 25 yards out in front of the Elko goal. Howard took the resulting free kick and ripped it into the back of the net for the second and final goal of the game.
“Defensively, we made some mistakes, but those we can work on this week,” Lopez said. “For the most part, our defense held with support from the midfield. On our offensive side, we continued to maintain control for the better part of the game and had many shots on goal. We need to be more patient and work the ball up until we have better shots.”
Boys soccer wins 1st game of the season
The Fallon boys soccer team won its first game of the season, 2-0 shutout over cross-valley rival Fernley on March 15 in Fernley.
Bryan Mendoza and Yahir Ugalde each scored for the Wave (1-5), who led 1-0 at halftime.
Fallon followed up with a 5-1 loss at Lowry on Friday but played a stronger second half after trailing 3-0 at intermission.
Mendoza scored the lone goal for Fallon.
After a blowout loss to open the season in Elko, the Greenwave showed improvement in Saturday’s 4-1 loss in Fallon.
The Indians scored only one goal in the first half before increasing their lead in the second.
Caleb Proffen assisted Ugalde for the Wave’s goal in the second half.
Fallon next plays on Friday in Dayton before traveling to Spring Creek on Saturday.
Fallon girls coach Manny Lopez contributed to this story.
