Just as the season is winding down, the Jamestown College women's soccer team is getting healthy.
But the missed training time and game action has left the young Jimmies lacking seasoning and it showed Wednesday night in a 4-1 loss to Minot State.
Tied 1-1 after 20 minutes, the Beavers scored twice more before the break en route to a 4-1 win.
The Jimmies, who have just one game left, dropped to 5-10-1.
"They're showing flashes of good soccer, but it's in bits and pieces," JC coach Phillip Bohn said. "We're still trying to put everything together."
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The Jimmies have one more chance to surpass their win total of last season. They host Great Falls (Mont.) Sunday. The women play the second game of the doubleheader, which begins at noon with the men's contest.
"We're so young and we've had a lot of girls miss a lot of time, there's just still a lot of things they haven't learned," Bohn said. "It is encouraging that they're still positive and come ready to work each day, but it's been frustrating to not get the result we want more often."
It took nearly 20 minutes before either team scored on a chilly night at Rotary Field, but Brittany Hung made it 1-0 Beavers on the first of three MSU headers.
"They were better than us in the air," Bohn said. "Not necessarily just (on the goals), but they seemed to get to more of the 50-50 balls too."
Barely a minute after the Beavers scored, the Jimmies leveled it when Daniella Taylor sent in a corner kick that appeared to deflect in off an MSU defender. The Jimmies had plenty of traffic in front of the net but it was Brittany Cochran that was credited with the score.
It stayed 1-1 until Zoe Fisher turned a JC turnover into a 2-1 lead, gaining possession in the Jimmie zone and zipping a shot to the bottom right-hand corner.
They made it 3-1 on a sparkling hook-up between Shannon Walsh, who sent in a spot-on cross that Jamie Council headed home.
"That third goal seemed to take the air out of us a little," Bohn said.
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The Jimmies did have some good scoring chances in both halves. Top goal-scorer Hannah Langseth had a pair of free kicks in the first half, but nothing came of either.
"I thought we did a decent job of creating some scoring opportunities," Bohn said.
Kayla Byle had another strong game in goal for the Jimmies. The sophomore from Kalispell, Mont., was busy, making three stops in the first half and five more in the second.
Minot State keepers were credited with just one save as they improved to 7-7 on the season.
Minot State 4, Jamestown College 1
Minot State 3 1 -- 4
Jamestown College 1 0 -- 1
Scoring summary
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First half
1, MSU, Brittany Hung (Chantal Pardis), 18:13; 2, JC, Brittany Cochran (Daniella Taylor), 20th; 3, MSU, Zoe Fisher (Council), 34th; 4, MSU, Council (Shannon Walsh), 35:20.
Second half
5, M, Fisher (unassisted) 60:16
Goalkeeper saves: Minot State, 1. Jamestown College, Kayla Byle 3-5.
Records: Minot State 7-7; Jamestown College 5-10-1.
Sun sports editor Dave Selvig can be reached at (701) 952-8460 or by e-mail at daves@jamestownsun.com
