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With only one loss so far this soccer season and a couple of big wins in their last two games, the Tracy High Bulldogs came off a two-week break Tuesday to suddenly find themselves in an aggressive matchup with their toughest league opponent yet.

The Lodi Flames beat Tracy, 2-1, at Tracy High after Lodi took advantage of two second-half opportunities to put the ball in the net.

The result creates a three-way tie for first place in the San Joaquin Athletic Association midway through the league season. Tracy beat Lincoln, and Lincoln beat Lodi at the start of the season, and now Lodi has beat Tracy to put all three teams at 4-1.

Tracy’s first league loss still wasn’t a disappointment since Lodi was expected to be the biggest challenge yet.

"We played really well and we’ll be able to catch them at their home next time," Tracy sophomore Alexis Poppoff said.

"Hopefully next time we’ll be a little more revved up," assistant coach Nate Perry said. "It’s hard to catch a good team like that after a couple down weeks."

From the start, Tracy (11-2-1 overall) was up against an oppressive Lodi offense. With a cold Arctic wind at its back, the Lodi team kept constant pressure on Tracy’s goal for the first half, and it fell on defenders Nikky Alexander, Alyssa Strop and Lu Worthington to keep Lodi from getting any clear shots at Tracy goalkeeper Amanda White, who also blocked three shots on goal in the first half.

Tracy got only a few chances to shoot in the first half, but aside from a Breahna Berry shot that the Lodi goalie had to dive after to deflect, Tracy didn’t get many clear shots.

"I was a little disappointed we didn’t capitalize in the first half," Lodi coach Tim Stutz said. "We had some good opportunities. The second half, we battled back and put their keepers under pressure."

Right at the start of the second half, Lodi charged at the Tracy goal, and a shot from the middle went over White’s head but bounced off the crossbar. Lodi’s Lisa Michelucci was there for the follow-up shot into Tracy’s net.

About 20 minutes in, when Lodi made another charge at the Tracy goal, the officials called a personal foul penalty on Tracy and gave Lodi’s Kourtney Agdeppa a clear penalty shot from just outside of the goal box, and Lodi made it a 2-0 game.

For most of the second half, it was Tracy that kept the offensive pressure on Lodi, but the Flames still turned back Tracy’s drives to the goal. Tracy managed seven shots on the Lodi goal, all blocked by goalkeeper Halle Ortiz.

With five minutes left on the clock, Tracy’s Alexis Poppoff took a kick that Ortiz tried to send across the field, sprinted down the right side of the field and worked her way through Lodi defenders for a clear shot to make it 2-1. After that, Tracy kept up its attack on the goal but Lodi defenders wouldn’t allow Tracy to get close enough to make any shots on the goal.