Donning the gold jerseys accompanied by blue shorts for the first time this season didn’t change the Jackrabbits’ luck as they suffered a heartbreaking loss to the Loyola Ramblers in overtime.

Sunday felt similar to Friday night’s game with the same result. 

Kristin Rodriguez of Loyola headed in the final goal of the game Sunday afternoon assisted by Shelby Koch to push the Jackrabbits to a disappointing 0-2 start of the regular season.  The Ramblers only had one shot in overtime which ended up being the game winning shot.

SDSU’s Alyssa Brazil notched up the game with an unassisted shot 30 yards out when Loyola’s goalkeeper was caught too far away from the goal that tied the two teams at one each, but the Jackrabbits were ultimately unable to score a second goal.

Monika Lee scored the first goal for the Ramblers kicking in the loose ball in the middle of the box at the 9:02 mark in the first half. Lee was assisted by Elyssa Kulas on the goal. Dani Patterson made a last effort with under a minute to go in the game as her shot went wide right.

“There were a lot,”  head coach Lang Wedemeyer said. “We let ourselves down quite a bit in the attack, some of it was a bit of being unlucky and some of it was lack of poise or decision making. No matter how you look at it we didn’t get the second goal we needed.”

The Jacks certainly had plenty of opportunities on offense as the team out numbered the Ramblers 20-10 in shots on goal. The momentum seemed to side with the team who was going with the wind, as all three goals were scored going to the north side of the field. Wedemeyer prefers to go with the wind into the second half, as a suitable strategy when dealing with the wind, while at other times taking chances is better.

“We just try to manage the first half best we can,” Wedemeyer said. “Sometimes we play better into the wind, but we had our chances to win it and we just let it go.”

Winds that were heading north up to 20 mph, in turn made field position important. The Jacks went against the wind in the first half and struggled to maintain the ball on their side of the field. 

“Obviously the wind was a big issue,” Wedemeyer said. “We came out of the second half of both games great and we get that goal and then we let off the gas. We not only have to do a better job of maintaining momentum, but to try to get a second goal fast.”

SDSU will now hop on the bus and travel to San Antonio, Texas to compete in the UTSA Tournament. The Jacks will have to get acclimated with the Texas heat, as they will play Lamar on Friday at 6:00 p.m. on Aug 30 and Sam Houston State on Sunday at 10:30 a.m.