HELENA, Mont. – Two first half goals were too much for Lady Argo soccer to overcome against defending Cascade Collegiate Conference champions Carroll College. The Fighting Saints scored twice in 8 minutes to defeat UGF 2-0 in the University of Great Fall's second game of the season.
 
Besides the two goals, the first half was fairly even with each team getting off 4 shots and forcing one save. A slicing shot from Carroll's Makayla Welch broke the 0-0 tie at the 27:50 mark, finding the top left corner of the Argo net.
 
A series of Carroll corner kicks were the next threat for UGF to fend off. The second of two consecutive corners around the 35-minute mark was initially defended by the Lady Argo defense. But as the ball looped out towards the top of the penalty box, CC's Christina Plank noticed UGF's keeper, Kyra Dorvall, was still recovering from charging for the initial cross and she volleyed the ball over Dorvall for a second Saints' score.
 
UGF rallied in the final ten minutes of the half, earning a corner kick and setting up a show from freshman forward Eme McLaughlin, but neither attempt managed to put the ball on frame.
 
In the second half, UGF managed to keep from letting in another goal, but it was in this stretch of 45 minutes that Carroll most definitively controlled the game. The Saints got off 11 shots to UGF's 2 and put three more attempts on goal. The final total saw Carroll outshoot Great Falls 15-6.
 
The Argo's two shots on goal came from two players making their first starts of the season. Midfielder Ashley Klepec returned to the starting lineup after starting 6 games in 2015. The senior had UGF's best attempt in the second half with a shot on goal in the 52nd minute.
 
UGF's other shot on goal was from freshman Jenni Qualm, who started in the Lady Argo midfield or the first time in her young career. Qualm tallied her first collegiate shot on goal with an effort that could've changed the game's momentum had it found its way past Carroll's keeper. Her shot in the 29th minute was UGF's only offensive statistic in between the Saint's two goals.
 
The loss drops UGF to 0-2 on the season, but both losses have come against quality opponents. Carroll was picked to win the CCC in the 2016 CCC Women's Soccer Coaches' Preseason Poll. UGF was picked to finish 6th in the conference.
 
The Lady Argo's next contest will be another non-conference game against a conference opponent, as UGF hosts Rocky Mountain College at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, September 11 on Argo Field.