Saint Mary's dropped its first conference match of the season to Olivet College 3-1 on Saturday.
The match was the Belles' (1-5-1, 0-1 MIAA) first since Sept. 17, when they lost a heartbreaker to Hope 2-1. Coach Ryan Crabbe thought the long layoff may have affected his squad.
"Certainly a tough loss," he said. "We started the game still looking like we were asleep on the bus. By the time we fell behind two goals, it was a large deficit to overcome seeing as we haven't been able to score goals in bunches."
Olivet (5-4-1, 1-0 MIAA) freshman Lizzy Julian capitalized on the Belles' slow start and scored back-to-back goals in the 28th and 32nd minutes to give the Comets a 2-0 lead heading into the half.
The Comets scored first in the second half as well, as senior Cori Barrera scored in the 75th minute to widen Olivet's lead to 3-0.
The Belles finally got on the board with freshman Katelyn Tondo-Steele's first career goal in the 81st minute. Junior captain Bridget Ronayne got the assist.
Saint Mary's was outshot for the second straight game, this time by a 27-16 margin. Against Hope, the Belles were outshot 20-8.
Junior goalkeeper Patty Duffy played all 90 minutes in goal and recorded 11 saves despite giving up three goals.
The Belles return to action at home against Illinois Wesleyan on Wednesday before a rematch at Hope on Saturday.
"Hopefully getting into a more normal playing rhythm this week with two games we can get on track," Crabbe said.
