Goshen, IN — With freshmen and sophomores comprising four fifths of Goshen’s starting lineup and just one senior on the entire active roster, an early 10-point Leafs’ lead over 12th-ranked Cornerstone University was an impressive sight Tuesday evening at the Roman Gingerich Center.

Perhaps with experience and time, this youthful Goshen team will find itself holding on to such fortunes.

While that was not the case Tuesday night — Goshen eventually dropped a 55-69 decision to the Golden Eagles — head coach Steve Wiktorowski saw a plethora of good things in the loss, as Goshen (1-1, 0-0) proved it can compete with any team at the NAIA level. Wiktorowski’s squad stunned Cornerstone at the outset Tuesday night, connecting on eight of its first 13 attempts from the field in taking a 20-10 lead midway through the first period, bringing the Roman Gingerich Center crowd to life and forcing Cornerstone to use several timeouts.

“I was really pleased with our start tonight, especially for such a young team against a highly-ranked and talented opponent,” Wiktorowski said. “I thought our man offense had very good movement and screening, and we handled the ball well.”

A change in Cornerstone’s defensive strategy for the latter part of the first half proved effective, however, as the Golden Eagles answered Goshen’s initial run with a 12-0 spurt of its own, capturing a 22-20 lead in just over a two-minute stretch. Good basketball followed, as the lead changed hands three times in the period’s final three minutes, with Cornerstone grabbing a 29-27 lead at the intermission.

“When Cornerstone began to change defenses, I thought it affected our timing and movement,” Wiktorowski said. “We began to stand and gave up a nice lead, but were still only down two at the half.”

That small deficit was short-lived.

Cornerstone opened the second half with another tough stretch on both ends of the floor, holding Goshen scoreless for the period’s first six minutes while tacking on 11 points in its own right for a 40-27 lead with 13:52 remaining. A three-pointer by freshman Kendra Fights eventually stopped the bleeding, but the Golden Eagles answered with a layup on its ensuing possession. A three-pointer by freshman Rachel Canen and a pair of free throws by classmate Krystal Duensing made the score 42-35 with 12:44 to play, but it was as close as Wiktorowski’s team would get. The Golden Eagles hit on 14 of 30 shots from the field in the second half (46.7 percent), keeping the Leafs at least 10 points back for the remainder of the contest.

“We were very inconsistent the second half on both ends,” Wiktorowski said. “We still made a couple of nice runs at them, but weren’t in sync to cut into their lead enough. There were certainly a lot of positive moments for us in this game, however, and I think it will help the confidence of our young players overall.”

Wiktoroski’s freshman and sophomore corps scored 49 of the team’s 55 points on the evening, led by second-year forward Kelsy McKee’s 16 points and eight rebounds. Duensing finished with 11 points, while junior Danielle Haney tallied six points and six boards. Goshen committed just 14 turnovers — the team averaged 20.8 errors per game in the 2004-2005 season — and drained eight of 20 shots from behind the arc (40 percent). If there was a downfall to the night’s efforts it was in overall shooting (18 of 50, 36 percent) and a rare outworking at the free throw line: Cornerstone connected on 18 of 22 charity attempts (81.8 percent), while Goshen could only get to the line 15 times, knocking in 11 (73.3 percent). Wiktorowski’s team attempted more free throws than its opponents in 27 of 32 games last season.

“We did a decent job with turnovers and shot the free throws that we got well,” Wiktorowski said. “Kelsy McKee played a very well-rounded game, Krystal Duensing and (sophomore) Sarah Arnold (three points, four assists) did a good job handling the ball and (sophomore) Carly Feldman (six points on three of four shooting, three rebounds) did some positive things in the post. Rebounding (Cornerstone outboarded Goshen by a 36 to 28 count) and their free throw shooting probably made the ultimate difference.”

Goshen will not have to wait long to return to the floor in searching for its second win of the season, as the team will travel to nearby Indiana University South Bend Saturday. Game time is set for 12 p.m.