The UW Oshkosh women’s soccer team lost a pair of matches to Loras College (Iowa) and Dubuque University (Iowa) over the weekend to dropping to 1-3 early in the season.

The team’s offense could not get it rolling as it was shut out in both matches.

Against the 19th-ranked Loras College Duhawks, UWO attempted six shots with one being on goal. Juniors Mallory Knight, Addie Schmitz and Tory Schumann recorded two shots apiece.

Officials issued Knight a yellow card in the 84th minute of the match while Loras’ Jenny Wick was yellow-carded in the 68th minute. Wick scored the Duhawks’ only goal in the beginning of the second half.

Senior Madelyn Runyan was busy in goal for the Titans as she blocked six out of Loras’ seven shots on the day.

Runyan said the team can only get better from their performances against Loras and Dubuque.

“With a young team, you will always have learning moments,” Runyan said. “The games that we have already played in, we have found things that we need to work on to become the best team that we can be. You can expect us to constantly battle and put in 100% as well as a positive mindset.”

Against the University of Dubuque, the team suffered another narrow loss, dropping 1-0 to the Spartans.

Runyan saved three out of four of Dubuque’s shots while Spartan goalkeeper Victoria Roethler saved all five of UWO’s shots on goal.

Knight, sophomore Maddie Hill, junior Emily Burg, junior Delaney Karl and sophomore Mackenzie Bennett all had shots on goal for the Titans.

The team’s next challenge will be against Dominican University (Ill.) on Saturday at 3 p.m. at J.J. Keller Field at Titan Stadium.

Senior defender Maddie Morris said the team played some challenging teams in Iowa but can use the games to do better next match.

“We are very ready,” Morris said. “We played some really tough opponents in Iowa and even though we lost, we learned. For Dominican we need to focus on possession and strong attacking runs.”

Runyan said the challenge of taking on Dominican University is something the team embraces.

“This weekend’s game is our first home game, and we are excited to finally play on our own turf,” Runyan said. “We have played some very tough teams already, which will help us with Dominican. They are a good team, but so are we. We have shown that we can hold our own against nationally ranked teams, so we are ready to take on Dominican.”