Winona Lake, IN — Just two days following a program-record, 13-goal outburst (click here for article), the Goshen College women’s soccer team failed to bring the needed intensity for a Mid-Central Conference match, dropping a 1-0 decision at Grace College Wednesday afternoon.

“I think we failed to step up when we needed to,” said Goshen head coach Thavisith Mounsithiraj following the match. “Mentally we were not completely there tonight. I was disappointed with our overall performance.”

Goshen (4-5, 1-1) appeared ready for the challenge early on, starting the contest with a dominating possession scheme that put Grace back on their collective heels from the start. That trend slowly changed as the game wore on, however, as the host Lancers began to turn the tide. That paid off for Grace in the game’s 42nd minute, when the Lancers’ Lindsay Anderson was able to head the game’s lone score into the back of the Goshen net off of a corner kick.

“We came out and played pretty well for the first 15 minutes or so and then we slowly began to give the game away,” Mounsithiraj said. “There was a breakdown in our offense in the sense that we did not pressure the ball when we needed to and we allowed them to work the ball out of their defensive half.”

Mounsithiraj’s team was able to reclaim possession for the majority of the second half, though Goshen’s best scoring efforts fell to the wayside. Junior Kelsey Hartman drilled a low liner midway through the period that was deflected out of bounds by the Grace goalkeeper for one of Goshen’s five corner kicks on the night; freshman Kaylee Pichardo had a looping shot from a flat angle shortly thereafter that sailed just over the crossbar. With both Goshen and Grace getting just four shots on goal each, Hartman’s and Pichardo’s attempts were the Leafs’ best chances at an equalizer.

“We had more quality looks at the goal in the second have however we failed to finish,” Mounsithiraj said. “We did a much better job towards the end of the game pressuring up front. Despite our less than stellar performance I continue to see the ladies improve and they are starting to understand what I want them to do. Our subs gave us some really quality minutes tonight which I was very pleased with.”

Sophomore goalkeeper Emmy Gibson came up with three saves on the afternoon, tending goal for the game’s duration. Goshen attempted five corner kicks to Grace’s four in what was an evenly played game throughout.

A stray thundershower midway through the first half made the field a bit slippery, causing both teams trouble in mounting any type of organized attack before halftime. Andreson’s score came after she was unmarked on the prefacing corner kick.

Goshen will get only a brief hiatus before its next MCC match-up, as the team continues its five games in 10-day stretch Saturday at Taylor University. That match time is set for a 1:30 p.m. kick off.