PHOTO BY RICHARD AKRIDGE Lampasas midfielder Isidro Castruita (3) dribbles the ball down the pitch during a recent match against Killeen Shoemaker. At Copperas Cove, the senior set up the Badgers’ lone goal in a 2-1 loss. After struggling to heat up in the freezing temperatures last weekend, the Badgers appear to be finding their rhythm.

Lampasas traveled to Copperas Cove Tuesday evening and despite some solid play between the posts, fell short of upsetting the home team, losing 2-1.

The narrow loss comes on the heels of the Badgers scoreless performance through four matches to open their season at the Marble Falls tournament.

“All in all, the team improved its play in all phases of the game,” head coach Greg Porter said.

While the defense had a good performance as a whole, perhaps the most impressive showing came from goalkeeper Alex Rininger, who defended 19 of 21 shots against a solid offense.

“On one corner kick, Rininger came up with an amazing double save at point blank range,” Porter said of his Marble Falls alltournament team selection. “Defenders Alonso Lopez, Kyle Calkins, Paul Bloomfield and Bradley Williams played well to keep Lampasas in the match as the offense moved the ball but generated only six shots on goal.”

The Badgers’ lone goal came with just under 38 minutes remaining in the match as Simon Aleman received a pass from Isidro Castruita and dribbled around a defender before giving his team a 1-0 advantage.

The Bulldawgs tied the match 10 minutes later before posting the match-winning goal with 23:41 remaining.

“[We] threatened to tie several times, but could not get a clean shot versus the quick Cove defense,” Porter said.

The Badgers (0-5) begin play at the two-day Killeen tournament today.