Missed it by that much. That might be the theme of the season for the Rams.

Colorado State (3-11-2, 0-6-1 Mountain West) women’s soccer dropped its sixth consecutive match, this time falling 2-0 to Nevada (5-8-1, 2-4-1 MW) Friday night.

The Rams are still in their adolescent years of division-I play. This is year three, and in the previous two years the Rams have faired well against the Wolf Pack, as CSU had won the only two previous meetings. All streaks come to an end, but even in defeat CSU coach Bill Hempen is proud of the way the Rams battled.

“What we have that we do well is effort,” Hempen said. “We’re going to use it, it might not be the prettiest product out there, but we have the effort. We have the emotion. These kids are emotionally invested and this is killing them. The thing they do the absolute best is give everything they’ve got, and I just have to make sure they continue to do that as we get ready to finish our season.”

The Wolf Pack jumped to a quick 1-0 lead in the 7th minute when freshman Hannah Miller slipped one by CSU keeper Jesse McGinley off a ball played into the box by Bryanna Wiehe.

The Rams struggled to maintain possession in the first half. It seemed like every pass CSU tried to make found a Nevada player instead. The Rams did come close to an equalizer when senior Jessica Stauffer had a corner kick go off the crossbar, but that’s just the way this one went. The Rams couldn’t catch a break.

The corner was the lone chance for the Rams in the first half, who were outshot 8 to 0 in the half. The Wolf Pack held a 1-0 lead at the break. 

Freshman Hannah Gerdin leads the Rams with 11 points this season, 5 goals and 1 assist, and almost got another 2 points early in the first half as the ball found its way to her in the box. Gerdin took a strike at it, but sent it straight into the chest of Nevada keeper Kelsey Quintos. Again, that’s just the way this one went.

Shortly after Gerdin’s try, the Wolf Pack made any comeback attempt a lot more difficult for the Rams on an awkward corner kick in the 51st minute. Lindsey Salcido recorded the goal, giving the Wolf Pack a 2-0 lead.

One more time, it was just that kind of a night for the Rams. Any play that looked promising ended up bouncing the other way. But credit the Nevada defense also, who held CSU to its lowest shot total of the season at 4.

“That’s as good as I’ve seen (Nevada) play,” Hempen said. “But they didn’t want to lose to us. That’s the first time they’ve beaten us. Nobody wants to start losing to us, because they know they may never beat us again.”

Colorado State will take the pitch again Sunday at 11:30am when they take on UNLV (7-8-0, 2-4-0 MW) in Las Vegas.

Collegian soccer reporter Chad Deutschman can be reached by email at sports@collegian.com or on Twitter @ChadDeutschman.