LIVINGSTON — The ball did not bounce Sierra’s way in the final minutes of its road loss in the second round of the Sac-Joaquin Section Division IV playoffs on Thursday.

The Timberwolves missed on golden chances to tie it up and came up short in a 2-1 loss to third-seeded Livingston. They were thwarted twice in the last five minutes, first on a shot that deflected off the crossbar. Sierra (16-9-2) then had a header attempt stopped on a spectacular save by the Livingston goalie.

“We played a really good game,” Timberwolves coach Joe Pires said. “We played well enough to win but the luck did not go our way.

“I am proud of the way they played their hearts out. We had a good run.”

David Lopez gave Sierra a 1-0 lead on a free kick in the 17th minute. Later in the first half Livingston (14-5-2) took advantage of a broken play to tie the game. In the second half the Wolves got lucky again when while clearing a Livingston shot the Timberwolves bounced the ball off of one of their own players and into their own net to give the Wolves a 2-1 lead. Livingston takes on the winner of the West Campus-Galt game in the semifinals next Wednesday.