The women’s soccer team returned to Abilene after a 3-1 loss at Incarnate Word Friday, and a 1-0 loss at Angelo State on Sunday.

This weekend marked the first conference games of the season for the Wildcats, and was an uncharacteristic loss for the team who went undefeated in the LSC last year.

“This weekend didn’t go exactly as we had planned for it to go,” junior forward Andrea Carpenter said. “I feel like we competed well, but definitely not up to our full potential. This team has so much talent, and I have full confidence that we can continue to get better and reach our full capabilities.”

The first half of Friday’s game in San Antonio remained scoreless. But only minutes into the second half, Incarnate Word’s Samantha Johnson took her chance to score on a penalty kick when senior defender Lexi Stirling was awarded a red card for a handball after a corner kick. It was her first goal of the season and brought the score to 1-0.

Following Johnson’s lead, Katie Miller launched a shot in from 20 yards back in the 65th minute. The third and final goal from the Cardinals came from Jazma Latu in the 80th minute.

The lone goal from the Wildcats this weekend came from Carpenter in the 83rd minute. It was Carpenter’s first goal of the season, marking her 39 career goal at ACU.

Carpenter began her 2012 season this weekend, coming off of an injury that kept her out of the first four games.

“Having Andrea back ads another element,” head coach Casey Wilson said. “Where she really can make a difference for us is with her speed and ability to create opportunities for her teammates as other teams tend to key in on marking her.”

Senior goalkeeper Arielle Moncure made seven saves for the Wildcats. Incarnate Word shot more than twice as much as the ‘Cats, 16-7.

The ‘Cats headed to San Angelo on Sunday in hopes of a comeback. But the Rambelles made it a close game, coming out with the win in the end.

The Wildcats were held to only eight shots, and the Rambells to 10. But in the 80th minute, Katie Squires capitalized on an opportunity and made the score 1-0.

It was Squires second goal of the year, and second of three shots in the game.

Sophomore midfielder Sarah Schoch led the ‘Cats with three shots, followed by senior midfielder Julie Coppedge with two.

Moncure finished the game with seven saves, while Angelo State goalkeeper had two.

The Wildcats will look to improve their conference record this weekend when they take on Eastern New Mexico and West Texas A&M at home.

“We had a team meeting yesterday and we talked a lot about this weekend and where to go from here,” Carpenter said. “Practice is going to be very intense this week, because we have so much new motivation from losing this past weekend.”

Coach Wilson also seems optimistic about moving forward as a team this weekend.

“We know what we are getting when we play those two teams,” Wilson said. “We are just making sure we can make ourselves more of an efficient team in terms of eliminating turnovers and finishing on our chances.”

The ‘Cats will return to action Friday when they take on Eastern New Mexico at 5 p.m. and West Texas A&M on Sunday at 1 p.m. at Wildcat Soccer Pitch.

“We are ready to put in the work it takes to produce the winning season we all know we are capable of,” Carpenter said. “The games this weekend are going to be a true testament to how much we want to turn this season around and I’m excited to see how it goes.”