The SDSU women’s soccer team concluded its nonconference schedule and three-game road stretch, suffering a 2-1 defeat at the hands of the University of Northern Iowa Panthers.

The Jackrabbits entered Friday’s game coming off success in the state of Iowa, having beaten the Iowa State Cyclones five days prior.

The Panthers would have none of that though, scoring during the second minute of the game when Caitlyn Fuller received Maggie Riley’s corner kick in front of the goal and put UNI up 1-0.

“We’ve given up early goals several times this season and so I think our team handles it pretty well,” Wedemeyer said. “I just think we dug a hole that we weren’t able to quite climb out of this time.”

Alyssa Brazil had the answer for the Jacks later in the half when she scored off Diana Potterveld’s assist to tie the score at one. The goal was Brazil’s fourth of the year, tying with Shelby Raper for the team lead and Brazil led the team with six goals last season.

“She [Brazil] puts herself in good spots, she’s got a pretty good shot and I think that she, coming out of the midfield, finds spaces to get goal scoring opportunities,” Wedemeyer said.

Potterveld’s assist marked her team-leading fifth of the season and vaulted her ahead of Raper for the team-lead in points with 11.

In the end, Sarah Brandt provided the game winner for UNI, scoring on a breakaway at the end of the half.

SDSU matched the Panthers shot for shot with 10 shots in the game, seven of them coming in the second half, but were stymied by a tough UNI defense in their attempts to find the net.

“I think we created some opportunities,” Wedemeyer said. “We just either didn’t shoot fast enough … and to Northern Iowa’s credit, they played fairly stifling defense and threw a lot of numbers behind the ball and the combination of the two kept us from getting that second and third goal.”

With the loss, the Jacks fall to 4-5 on the season with the conference schedule looming. On Friday, Oct. 3 the Jacks host IUPUI at 6 p.m. and then host Western Illinois on Sunday, Oct. 5 at 1 p.m. SDSU is 3-1 this season in their games at Fishback Soccer Park.

“We’ve got to refocus ourselves, be reenergized, build on the confidence of good wins like the one against Iowa State, learn from some of our mistakes and realize that it’s a new season,” Wedemeyer said.

Last season the Jacks went 6-1 against Summit League Foes, but Wedemeyer says those victories are in the past.

“Most of these girls, they don’t think too much about last year,” Wedemeyer said. “We’ve just got to realize that it’s a new team, it’s a new season and every game is important.”

October will decide whether the Jacks accomplish their preseason goal of winning the Summit League. Eight games will decide a regular season champion and which four teams will travel to Denver and compete in the Summit League Championship for a trip to the NCAA Tournament.