MOULTRIE – It was a match Colquitt County High’s girls soccer team needed to stay in contention for the top spot in Region 1-7A.

However, for the second outing in a row, the Lady Packers fell in league play, this one on the Packer Park pitch. The Lowndes High Vikettes from Valdosta scored all of their goals in the first half and held off numerous second-half attacks to win 3-1.

This was after Friday’s 7-0 setback at Camden County High. So coach Trey Jones and the Colquitt girls dropped to 1-2 in 1-7A with a series of non-region contests upcoming.

Possession time for Tuesday’s first half belonged mainly to Lowndes. Goalkeeper Julia Warnock was there to stop the first and second shots at the left post, and when Lowndes switched to the right side the first and second shots hit the post.

The Vikettes maintained the soccer ball, and with a cross from right to left they took one more shot on goal off Warnock’s hands. But others in the red uniforms were there for the rebound to get a 1-0 lead.

Colquitt’s first shot on goal came from freshman Ragan Harden, but it was saved with 15 minutes remaining in the half. Jones had a lot of strong midfield play off the bench from Daliza Gachuz and Ny’kearian Green, and Addi Yost came up clutch at times in the sweeper role.

At 8:36, Lowndes’ striker tapped the ball ahead of her defender and took a clear shot into the net making the score 2-0.

For the Lady Packers, a great chance presented itself four minutes later with Hannah Goodno kicking the lead pass into the box. Waiting for it was Lexie McDaniel, and she had a brief open look only to miss the target wide. Alaina Taylor recovered the ball, crossed it in, but Colquitt couldn’t make anything else happen.

When Lowndes sent the ball back to the middle, the Vikettes made a long onside lead. The one-on-one charge of striker against keeper went in the visitors’ favor for 3-0.

That took the match into the second half, where Colquitt County earned the first corner kick anyone had early. Though nothing came of it, the Lady Packers put together a combination from Sugeili Gachuz to Taylor to Chloe Gould. The ensuing shot was saved.

Jennifer Perez played goalkeeper for Colquitt in the second half and made the save in her first chance. She received help in the box a few minutes later from Goodno, and Mary Jacobs helped as well blocking the ball with her body.

After Lowndes took two attempts at the corner kick with no luck, the soccer ball possession belonged to the Lady Packers. Daliza Gachuz received a lead pass, and she remained a nuisance by forcing Lowndes to lose the ball out of bounds deep in Colquitt’s attacking zone. She and Green were on the 50-50 balls, and soon Jacobs, Jacie Middlebrooks and Harden worked a combination of passes for a shot that missed wide.

The first 20 minutes of the half passed by with no change in the score, and then McDaniel found an open net from just outside the box. That’s because the visiting keeper played the ball out to her right, but cleared it weakly for the Lady Packer to get it and score.

Down 3-1, Colquitt had chances when McDaniel passed to Gould, who then missed high. Gould also won a goal kick, but her ensuing shot was saved with around 10 minutes remaining.

Perez made one last save at the two-minute mark, but Lowndes was committed to the defensive side and disrupting all of the Colquitt attack. Taylor found herself marked strong, and McDaniel was surrounded when she got the ball in those final minutes.

PACKERS ALSO FALL 3-1

Colquitt County boys soccer coach Jimbo Jarvis said Tuesday’s Region 1-7A home match with Lowndes was basically decided in the first 20 minutes of the second half. The Vikings scored two times in that span to break a 1-1 tie and send the Packers to 1-2 in league play.

Jose Moreno scored in the 13th minute of the first half. But Lowndes knotted the score in the 33rd minute. Then there was the second half.

“For 20 minutes they had an intensity we could not match,” said Jarvis. “For the last 20 minutes, we were in front of their goal, but we were flat for the first 20.”

Even at 1-2, Jarvis said he still feels Colquitt has the best team in 1-7A. Now, it’s a matter of “going back to the drawing board.”

• Jarvis called it a fun night of soccer last Friday when the Packers topped the Camden County Wildcats 3-0 in Kingsland. There was just one goal in the first half, that by Moreno in the 15th minute. Carlos Landa scored 17 minutes into the second half and Bryan Galardo connected with 10 minutes left.

“We hit bars, posts, had the keeper make 12 saves, missed wide. We were all over them,” said Jarvis. “At times, Camden put some passes together, but our goalkeeper came up big for us (Blayton Duncan). With it only being 3-0, they could have easily been in it, but we dominated.”