The Wayland High School girls’ soccer team once again gave O-K Gold Conference leader South Christian a tussle, but fell short, 2-1, despite shutting out the Sailors for the entire second half.

Coach Ben Sleeman said the Sailors applied lots of offensive pressure and did a nice job of unsettling the Wildcats’ back line in the early going. They were able to put away two goals in the opening 20 minutes before the Wildcat girls began to settle into the game. The score would go into the half 2-0 in favor of the Sailors.

“The second half continued the way the final minutes of the first did, with both teams taking their chances, and the Wildcats looking just a bit more threatening offensively,” Sleeman remarked.

Finally, with just under 20 minutes to go in the match, Sophomore, Amanda Brown’s free kick found Ashlyn Schafer in the box, and she beat the keeper to cut the Sailors’ lead in half.

“Unfortunately, after that, the Wildcat offense couldn’t find the back of the net again, despite having some great chances to tie the game up,” Sleeman added.

The match would end exactly that way, 2-1, and the Wildcats would head home with their third straight loss, after dropping contests to Allegan Saturday and Middleville Monday.

Keeper Rachel Wienclaw made 10 saves on the night, bringing her season total to 97.

The loss brings the Wildcat’s record to 6-6 overall (5-4 in the O-K Gold).

The girls waste no time and are back in action tonight as they travel to Covenant Christian with kickoff at 5 p.m.