DENVER – The Regis University women's soccer team finished strong against Chico State but could not overcome an early two-goal deficit and lost, 2-1, at Regis Match Pitch on Sunday.
 
"We knew that they were going to be athletic and ask some questions of us as they pressured us and we didn't handle it particularly well, to be fair, conceding two goals," said Rangers coach J.B. Belzer. "But I thought Tori's goal was timely, and it gave us the lifeline to get into halftime, reorganize, and come out with a better opportunity in the second half.
 
"Unfortunately, we really didn't do that, and technically, we didn't execute today. We didn't interchange positions well. It wasn't the performance we played with Friday night, and we said post-match, 'Look, it just wasn't our day; we didn't perform, and we're capable of much better and we expect much better and you expect it of yourselves and we'll give it next time out.'"
 
How It Happened: Down 2-0 early in the 37th minute, senior midfielder Emily Ramos found senior midfielder Tori Rinsem at the right corner of the box. Rinsem then beat sophomore goalkeeper Victoria Graham to the left corner of the goal box to trim the Rangers deficit, 2-1.
 
This score gave Regis a surge of hope, which proved successful in preventing the allowance of another goal from the Wildcats' offense. Unfortunately, RU was unable to capitalize on Rinsem's goal offensively.
 
The Rangers' closest opportunity for an equalizer occurred on junior forward Carly Bych's bottom-left header shot, which she deflected on a cross but went right into Graham's grasp in the 76th minute.
 
CSUC grabbed an early lead just barely into the 15th minute when senior defender Abbie Jones received junior forward Jordan Doukakis' pass and tapped the ball past the goal plane for a 1-0 advantage.
 
Chico State added to its tally just over four minutes later in the 19th minute on a penalty kick taken by sophomore forward Susanna Garcia, who kicked to junior goalkeeper Julia Coombs' left. Coombs made finger contact with the ball in the midst of her diving motion, but the ball brushed past her while giving the Wildcats a 2-0 lead.
 
The Rangers also trailed CSUC in shots, 15-11, and shots-on-goal by a margin of 7-3 for the game.
 
Game Notes: Rinsem (1 G, 2 S, 1 SOG) scored Regis' only goal in the match. Ramos (1 A, 1 S) contributed RU's lone assist. Sophomore forward Gia Lemley (3 S) had a team-high in shots and a share of the game-high in that category. Freshman defender Ella Palmer (1 S, 1 SOG) earned her first-career shot-on-goal in the effort. Bych (1 S, 1 SOG) nearly tied the game on a header. Coombs (5 SV) had three more saves than Graham.
 
Up Next for the Rangers: The Rangers, who have a 0-1-1 overall record, will take to the road for the first time this season when they travel to Angelo State (2-0) for an in-region match. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. MT.
 
With one weekend in the books, Belzer wants his team to move forward from its match with the Wildcats.
 
"We flush it, and we regroup, and get ready for Texas," Belzer said. "[There are] important matches down in Texas for the [South Central] region.
 
"It's still a great team. We've just got to figure out how to play Friday and Sunday, and that's going to be the challenge going forward over the next eight weekends is performances of high quality, both Friday and Sunday."