The Spanish Springs Cougars struggled to find the net Tuesday and were handed a 2-0 road loss at Elko in High Desert League girls prep soccer action.

The host Indians broke the scoreless tie with a goal in the 16th minute. They added their insurance goal at the 72-minute mark.

Spanish Springs had three golden opportunities to score, possibly salvaging a tie or win on the grueling road trip but could not finish. SSHS sophomore Laura Voss missed a shot on an empty net and the Cougars also had a pair of 2-on-1 opportunities against the Elko goalkeeper but could not convert.

“We didn’t play very well. I think we have a hard time with teams that play kickball and are really physical,” Cougars coach Mike Faker said. “They just beat us up and we didn’t respond well to that … They beat us. They were better than us today. But we had some good opportunities where we should have scored.”

Spanish Springs returns to the soccer pitch Saturday when it plays cross-town rival Reed at home.

•The Sparks girls soccer team lost by the same 2-0 score Tuesday, falling short in a 3A North Tahoe League affair at Incline.

Incline found the net twice in the final five minutes of the first half. The Highlanders’ goals came in the 35th and 39th minutes.

Incline was held to just the two goals despite getting off 28 shots. The hosts limited Sparks to only four shots on goal. Railroaders goalkeeper Nora Valenzuela racked up 24 saves in defeat.

“Incline beat us 6-0 the first time around so this was another Tahoe-area team that we’ve played more competitive the second time around,” Sparks coach Jerry Miller said. “The story today was Incline just had more speed on defense. They played up and we couldn’t run down all of their attacks. But still, it was a much better effort this time around.”

The Sparks girls go to Lovelock for a match Thursday at 2 p.m.

•In boys action, Sparks was handed a 4-2 upset road loss by Incline in a key conference clash.

Incline ran out to a 4-0 lead with goals in the 13th, 34th, 38th and 52nd minutes.

Sparks did answer with a pair of goals of its own but it proved too little too late. Abey Quintino scored for Sparks at the 63-minute mark thanks to an assist from Oscar Carvajal. Quintino added a goal four minutes later on a penalty kick.

Railroaders goalkeeper Javier Torres finished the match with 5 saves.

Sparks now sits 8-3 overall and 3-3 in Tahoe League play.

“We went up to Incline and it’s always a tough match up there. It was no different today,” Sparks coach Frank Avilla said.