PAINESVILLE-The Lake Erie Womens' soccer team played host to the Bethany College Bison on Saturday afternoon and fell just a bit short in their attempt to break into the win column.

    Bethany scored two first half goals, and then got a break when the Storm had a Bethany corner-kick deflect on a Lake Erie player and into their own net at the 69th minute. Lake Erie's all-time points leader, Katie Jayne, picked up her first goal of the season at the 88th minute when she beat Bison keeper Leondra Thomas with a arching shot that hit the upper left corner. Jayne had an earlier chance on a break-away but Thomas turned away the senior's attempt.

    "It was good that people didn't give up in the end, and we kept fighting hard," said Lake Erie head coach Lauren Ferullo. " It was a big boost for Katie because after she didn't score on the break-away, she had her head down because she knew that she could have scored, but she regrouped and made a perfect shot."

    The Bison began the scoring at the 14" minute when Megan Maloney netted a goal off an assist from Missy Gibson. Gibson then scored seven minutes later off assists from Bethany Mucho and Maloney. The two goals stood up until half time, and the Bethany's only other goal came on the own-goal by the Storm.

    Jayne's goal at the 88th minute cut the deficit to 3-1, but it was too little, too late for Lake Erie, who drop to 0-4 on the season with the loss. Bethany gets back to even as they upped their record to 2-2.

    Storm senior goalkeeper Tracy Dolence had nine saves in the losing effort, but the Lake Erie was outshot 29-8 in the contest.

    The Storm continue to be hit with the injury bug as two starters were forced out of the line-up and continued to put a strain on the Storm bench. However, despite the injuries, the Storm has shown improvement since the first game.

    "We are starting to make better runs and better passes, which is giving us more opportunities ot score," Ferullo said. "We are trying to get our defense to push up more and get out quicker, which will help us offensively."

    The Storm will hit the road for the next three contests as they begin their trip with a stop at Baldwin Wallace on Wednesday at 7:00.