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Following a 5-1 blowout loss to La Crosse Aquinas on April 28, the West Salem girls soccer team played two tight games against Onalaska and Sparta.

Unfortunately, the Panthers’ offense was stymied again as they lost both contests by identical 1-0 scores.

The game against Aquinas began on a promising note when midfielder Brittney Ungerer scored off an assist by Kelsey Gorniak. It was only the second goal allowed by Aquinas in MVC play. But Kylie Mannion of Aquinas answered with a goal of her own to make the score, 1-1 at halftime.

The second period was all Aquinas. Mannion scored twice, sandwiching her scores around a goal by Bethany Schmidt, to put her team up by three. Aquinas ended the rout with a penalty kick that made the final score, 5-1 and kept them undefeated in conference play.

Meanwhile, West Salem’s record dropped to 3-4 in conference action. Goalie Paige Roth-Smith had four saves in the game and Robbie Shelby had two.

The next evening against Onalaska, the Panthers tightened their defense considerably. The game’s only goal was scored in the first half when Onalaska forward Katie Hill punched one in unassisted. In the second half, West Salem pushed hard to tie the game but just could not breach Onalaska’s goal. Again Roth-Smith had four saves.

On Thursday, May 1, the Panthers faced off against Sparta. The defense played well, allowing only seven shots on goal, while the offense had some good chances that failed to materialize. The game was a scoreless tie through the first 52 minutes, but in the 53rd minute, Sparta’s Erin Williams scored the game’s only goal with an assist by Jamie Kenyon. The loss dropped West Salem’s league record to 3-6.

Coach Marc Anderson said he was happy with the team’s effort in the week’s final two games.

“We had a good all-around team effort and probably played harder than in some of the games we’ve won this year,” he said.

“But we’re a young team and every so often we’ll make the kind of mistake young teams make — the MVC is a tough league,” he added.

The team will play Aquinas, Tomah and Wisconsin Rapids Assumption this week.