PHOTOS BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Senior River Hooks takes a shot during the Lady Badgers 2-0 loss to Lorena at home Monday evening. After falling to 0-5 to start the season, Lampasas looks to snap the streak when it plays at the Stephenville tournament this weekend. The Lady Badgers did not walk away with a victory, but they took a step in the right direction.

After playing without its full complement of players and being outscored 11-1 in four loses during the season-opening tournament in Marble Falls last weekend, Lampasas displayed a more realistic picture of its true capabilities in a 2-0 home defeat to Lorena Monday evening.

While picking up an early-season victory would be nice, Lampasas head coach Mark Guszak knows matches prior to the district schedule are virtually meaningless.

“If we win these games, it means absolutely nothing,” the coach said. “If anything, [winning] gives you a big head and makes you think you don’t have stuff to work on. We have stuff to work on and we know it.

Cricket Hamilton delivers a header in the first regular season match played at the new Lampasas High School campus. “But there was a lot of improvement tonight, and it’s nice when we have our starters together.”

Although the Lady Badgers got off to a shaky start by giving up both scores and numerous shot attempts, they rebounded in the second half, limiting Lorena to just a pair of shots on goal.

Unfortunately, the damage was already inflicted and Lampasas (0- 5) failed to produce any goals despite having an advantage in field positioning for most of the half.

“[Lorena] is a playoff caliber team and we believe you get better by playing good teams because you’re going to see that [level of competition] in district,” Guszak said. “Obviously, we are not there yet, but last year we started the same way.”

Sophomore Samantha Almanzar fights off an opponent to earn control of the ball. The Lady Badgers, however, turned their season around last year and reached the playoffs, where they fell in the opening round to Austin McCallum on their home pitch.

Tuesday night’s game was a microcosm of the 2009 season.

In the 15th minute of the match, Lampasas midfielder Megan Mason committed a foul, and Lorena was awarded a penalty kick to Kaitlyn Wallace.

The kick was blocked by goalkeeper Liz Hawthorn, but the deflection was collected on the rebound by Wallace, who delivered the ball to the back of the net.

Lorena continued to dominate field position after the goal, and a little over 20 minutes later the Lady Leopards struck again. This time Lauren Marteney sent an impressive high, curving shot from the left side of the pitch that navigated itself like a missile into the top right corner of the goal.

While the attempt off the penalty kick was good, the call was not, according to Guszak.

“The penalty kick was a bad call, and it shouldn’t have been called” the coach said. “The second goal was just an incredible shot. I tip my hat to that girl.”

Then, after halftime, the Lady Badgers found their stride and matched Lorena shot for shot and save for save as each team attempted two shots on goal. Defensively, Hawthorn finished with seven saves.

“I was very pleased with the performance. The played real hard and they played together,” Guszak said. “I didn’t take a lot of negative away from this game at all.”

Lampasas will look to carry its momentum into the two-day Stephenville tournament this weekend. The Lady Badgers open play today.

Next week, Lampasas concludes its non-district schedule with a revenge match on the road against McCallum Tuesday before hosting Fredericksburg Friday evening. In addition to eliminating the Lady Badgers from last year’s playoffs, McCallum also picked up a 6-1 victory over Lampasas at the Marble Falls tournament.

“We want a positive experience in Stephenville and then have two positive games [leading into district play],” Guszak said. “Scores and wins are not that important to me, but when we play that first game against Leander Rouse to start off district, that’s when the scores start mattering to me.”