The women’s soccer team took a tough hit when it lost 1-0 to conference opponent Benedictine College last Friday.

The loss came just a week after the team fell 2-1 to Lindenwood University and broke its undefeated conference record.

The ‘Cats came out ready to take on Benedictine but struggled to finish the open opportunities they found at the goal. 

“I think it was a matter of the fact that we just didn’t finish our chances,” senior Sara Matthews said. “We were creating opportunities, but we just didn’t put the ball in the back of the net.”

The weather played no part to help the team as constant rain left the field a muddy mess.

“The weather was a huge factor,” sophomore Chelsea Dunn said. “It was really wet outside, and it was really tough for both teams.”

After a four-game winning streak, two losses back to back came as a hard hit to the team’s morale.

“I think that we could have become a little too confident about our winning streak and maybe took some teams lighter than what we should have, but now that we have lost, I think it set us back to a reality check that we are not good enough to just slack off,” Dunn said. “We have to come out to every game our hardest.”

The team’s dry spell had all the women fired up to pull out a victory Tuesday night against William Jewell College. However, poor weather conditions forced officials to end and reschedule the game. In the one half the ‘Cats played, they were able to take a 1-0 lead over Jewell.

“It was really unfortunate because we were playing really well and obviously we were up 1-0, and no one wants to stop a game when you are up,” sophomore Christine Janssens said. “We felt like we could have continued to play because right when they canceled the game there was no more lightning.”

To lose the lead and be forced to reschedule was disappointing for the team. However, Dunn said the time they were able to play Tuesday night will only play as an advantage when they take on William Jewell for the second time.

Dunn said the team now knows how William Jewell plays and would be even better Thursday and know how to take the Cardinals on from the start.

The team was scheduled to play William Jewell again Thursday night. However, results were unavailable at presstime.