Box Score Marshall, Minn. - Washburn soccer opened the 2016 season with a, 2-1 loss to Upper Iowa Thursday afternoon. After a strong, defensive first half the Ichabods were unable to hold on and were defeated by the Peacocks.

The Ichabods showed grit as they were outshot, 7-3 in the first half and went in at the half tied at zero with Upper Iowa. Junior goalkeeper Kaitlin Minnich recorded three saves and played every minute on goal for the Ichabods.

Upper Iowa broke the stalemate halfway into the second period when Maggie Olson score at the 67th minute and Brianne Fenton score at the 71st minute mark with both goals assisted by Birgit Rjinders. It was freshman forward Olivia Grasso who would put the Ichabods on the scoreboard at the 73rd minute off an assist from Morgan El-Attrache.

" I thought the game had a lot of ups and downs for us", said head coach Chris Jones. " Obviously with it being the first game of the season there is going to be nervous jitters, but once we settled down we did great things. Unfortunautely we allowed them to score two goals, which is not good. I took a lot of positives away from this game. The younger players stepped up and took what we were trying to do in stride and showed well. Now it's about putting 90 minutes together".

Washburn will close out the SMSU Mustang Classic at 2 p.m Saturday when they face host team Southwest Minnesota.