John Byrne/Nevada Athletic Communications. Goalkeeper Kendal Stovall prepares her defense before set piece. Nevada plays Hawai’i in their next game at Mackay Stadium.

After a surprising start 3-0-1, the Nevada Soccer has lost its last two games falling to 3-2-1 on the season.

The first loss came on Sunday, Sept. 2, against St. Mary’s. From the beginning of the match it felt as if whatever team scored first would win. The first half was relatively quiet as neither team found the back of the net. Goalkeeper Kendal Stovall and her counterpart Maleah Milner tallied to saves in the first half. The games lone goal came in the 56th minute as when Jordyn Cunningham put one past Stovall.  

The goal ended up being the only difference between the teams as both teams finished, with four shots on goal. The Wolf Pack would go on to play a winless Sacramento State squad on Friday night.

Unfortunately the struggles for continued for Nevada against Sacramento State.

After neither team could muster up anything for much of the first half, a penalty was given to the Hornets in the 40th minute. Tiffany Miras stepped up for Sacramento State and scored giving the Hornets the lead and momentum in the game. Just two minutes later the Hornets would net another goal off the foot of Camila Fonseca. The Hornets took a 2-0 lead into the half.   

Nevada hoped the halftime break would slow the roll Sacramento State appeared to be on but it was not the case. Five minutes into the second half, the Hornets scored once again. The 3-0 deficit is the biggest the Wolf Pack had faced all season.

A brief moment of life for Nevada as sophomore Hannah Souza scored her first goal of the season in the 54th minute scoring past a diving Kaylyn Evans.

A falling Payton Lieb connected with senior Mackenzie Robinson who scored in a traffic jam in front of the net shrinking the Hornet’s lead to one. Nevada had scored twice while only putting up three shots. With 27 minutes still left, it felt as if the pendulum was starting to swing in favor of the Wolf Pack.

That was not the case as Sacramento State shut down the Wolf Pack for the rest of the match. In the end, Nevada would finish with those three shots on goal while the Hornets had a total for 10. Kendal Stovall did finish with five saves –all coming in the second half– which kept the Wolf Pack in reach of a possible tie.

The Wolf Pack finished their five-game road trip with a 2-2-1 record after both of the losses.

Next up for the Wolf Pack, they play their second home game of the season—and first home game at Mackay Stadium this season—as they face Hawai’i Thursday, Sept. 13, at 6:30 p.m.

Darion Strugs can be reached at mpurdue@sagebrush.unr.edu and on Twitter @dstrugs.