Photo by Jake McNeill Southwest Minnesota State midfielder Audrey Gallagher (10) jostles for position on the ball with Concordia-St. Paul’s Brittany Bordson during the Mustangs’ 2-0 loss to the Golden Bears at Mattke Field on Sunday afternoon.

MARSHALL — The Southwest Minnesota State soccer team was unable to overcome a slow start against Concordia-St. Paul on Sunday afternoon, falling 2-0 to the Golden Bears after allowing a pair of first-half goals.

“It was two different halves… We started flat. There was no energy, there was no passion. Unfortunately, against a good team like that, they’re going to crush you,” SMSU head coach Clay Glasgow said. “If we had brought that same passion, that same energy, that same intensity [that we had in the second half], it would have been a totally different game. I mean, you saw the second half. If you didn’t know the score, you probably would have guessed we are up.”

Katie Anderson scored the go-ahead goal for Concordia just eight minutes into the game and Corynn Grabau scored another goal five minutes later to hammer home the lead. Anderson’s goal came on a free kick and tied the program’s career scoring record while Grabau’s goal was a header off a corner kick.

The Golden Bears’ eight shots on goal were five more than the Mustangs but almost all of their damage came in the first half. Eight of Concordia’s 12 shots came before the break and goalkeeper Kenna Conley only had to make one of her six saves in the second half.

“Unfortunately, you cannot pick when you want to play, when you want to bring that intensity, when you want to bring that passion,” Glasgow said. “You cannot pick and choose when you do that. For us, it’s got to happen in practice. So hopefully that translates, but today kind of demonstrated that you cannot pick and choose when to do it.

“It could be one person or two players igniting that passion and hopefully that gets contagious. But at the end of the day, we need to sustain it for 90 minutes.”

The Mustangs’ six shots after halftime were four more than they had before the break. Still, they struggled with precision; Of their eight shots on the day, five were off target.

Trinity Reagan was the only starter to register a shot on goal for SMSU. Brianna Guerrero and Sydney Johnson each had one off the bench.

SMSU did not earn a single corner kick on the day while Concordia had five such opportunities — four of which came in the first half.

SMSU (3-8-1, 3-5-1 NSIC) will look to get back in the win column when it plays at Minnesota Duluth on Friday at 6 p.m. The Mustangs will wrap up the weekend road trip with a match at St. Cloud State on Sunday at 1 p.m.