“Even though we were on the wrong end of the scoreboard, we played a great game,” said Warren coach Mark Ordiway, whose Dragons are 4-6 overall. “A couple minor mistakes led to both of their goals. Take away those two chances and the outcome may have been a little different.”

Trailing 2-0 at the game, Warren held DuBois scoreless, but couldn’t capitalize.

“Our defense of Charlotte Keeports and Lilly Stanley on the wings, and Chloie Sliter and Bella Campbell in the middle, is starting to look much better as a group,” said Ordiway. “They are beginning to slow themselves down and find the correct pass and also play it back to Hailey Peterson, our goalkeeper, to get out of trouble and keep possession. We have stressed this from day one, and we are beginning to see it in games.

“The game still felt closer than 2-0,” he said. “We had a few balls in the box that we could not capitalize on. Lani Wenzel had a nice breakaway and tried to chip the on-rushing keeper, who was able to get a couple fingers on it and pop it up in the air to herself. We had another nice corner from Eliza Brook and header by Leyna Irwin that appeared to be stopped from going in by a defender’s hand; that probably should have been a PK opportunity. I feel we passed up a couple shots from distance as well. Against the better teams, we need to take those shots.”

Warren’s Meea Irwin (1) battles a DuBois player for possession in the Dragons’ 2-0 loss on Saturday at War Memorial Field in Warren. Photo courtesy of Mark Evans

Warren next hosts Oil City at 6 p.m. Tuesday on its senior night, then hosts Bradford at 5 p.m. Thursday.

“We lost to McDowell and Bradford beat McDowell, 1-0, so this game has first-place implications in our region,” said Ordiway.