Fitting enough, as the downpour began at Don Breese Stadium, Lewis-Palmer also made it rain on the pitch.

The Rangers’ boys soccer team scored two goals in two minutes in the second half Wednesday evening and beat Doherty 2-0 for Lewis-Palmer’s first victory of the season.

“It was fantastic for the team,” Lewis-Palmer coach Brian Barkey said. “Most importantly, they were rewarded for some really good defending against a really good team.”

Lewis-Palmer battled to avoid an 0-3 start – something the Rangers haven’t done since 2017 – and needed a boost from its attack.

In their opening matches, Grandview and Centaurus outscored the Rangers 5-0. The Rangers nearly fell into a 1-0 hole against the Spartans (1-2), however …

“To be fair, (Doherty) should have gotten one,” Barkey said. “They had (a shot) that went off the post. But Doherty is a brilliant team and for our kids to be able to hold them and create a couple of good chances to put them away was good.”

Lewis-Palmer’s swift strikes began with 12:35 left in the contest with Doherty dominating the ball.

Through 26 minutes in the second half, the Spartans had eight shots, six on goal, while the Rangers managed just one shot.

But Czak Martinez snagged a pass from the Spartans near their goal and bolted toward Doherty’s net.

“We were working on repressing all week and I wanted to set the tone for the team,” Martinez said. “I saw that they made a bad pass and I went for it.”

Martinez’s steal led to a shot – the first on goal in the second half for the Rangers – which found the back of the net to make it 1-0.

Just over 90 seconds later, Martinez’s teammate Jacob Morrison also netted a goal for the Rangers.

“I don’t know where that came from,” Morrison said. “I play in the moment. I saw my moment and I took it. We all went two games without scoring and getting that second goal put a cherry on top of this game.”

The Rangers senior forward needed to dodge a Spartan flurry as a pair of Doherty players collapsed on Morrison.

Morrison dribbled the ball just on the inbound side of the touchline while also warding off the Spartans, charged toward the middle of the goal and fired a rocket with 10:20 left in the game.

“I’ve practiced running down that left-hand side before and after practice for the past two weeks,” Morrison said. “Last year I scored a lot of goals doing that and this year, I hadn’t been able to do that. I’ve been trying to get my touch back, along with my momentum and my confidence. I wanted to be able to cut in and score how I used to do.”

Prior to Martinez’s goal late in the second half, the Rangers hadn’t scored a goal in nearly 230 minutes.

Morrison said this win, coupled with their first goals of the year, is “the start of something great.”

This also served as an ideal time for the Rangers to break their scoring and losing streak.

In 2017, when the Rangers started 0-3, that losing streak extended to seven matches and Lewis-Palmer finished the year 5-11.

Barkey knows the importance of this victory, but also isn’t measuring the Rangers’ improvements with wins and losses.

“The results are so far away from where we’re trying to focus this year,” Barkey said. “We’re focusing on character of the group, intensity level, and getting better every day. … What I like about this team is this is tough match number three. The boys stepped up and played hard and had a lot of intensity. They kept battling, connected on the chances that they needed to and that’s rewarding.”