CRETE, Neb. – The College of Saint Mary soccer team got behind early and couldn't work out of it Saturday afternoon.

The Flames lost 3-1 to Doane University on the road in Great Plains Athletic Conference play.

"We let ourselves down today," CSM Coach Jordan Irsik said. "We've been struggling to score, but we were the better team out of the gate. However, we didn't fight or capitalize on their mistakes like they did ours.

"Getting down 3-0 was a wake-up call and I think we did what we could towards the end."

The Tigers scored their first goal at 35:16 by Karime Maldonado, assisted by Brooklyn Mercurio. Teammate Celeste Galvan scored at 39:13 with an assist going to Michaela Thompson. That gave Doane at 2-0 lead at the intermission.

Doane scored again at 52:52 with a goal from Thompson, assisted by Denise Gomez.

The Flames got their lone goal at 81:07 from Abbey Wilson (JR/Papillion, Neb.), with Abbie Anderson (SO/Omaha, Neb.) earning the assist.

Doane outshot CSM 18-12 in the contest. Flames' starting goalkeeper Gabby Felker (JR/Omaha, Neb.) took the loss. She had five saves in the opening half. Teammate Alivia Schade (SO/Kearney, Neb.) tallied four saves in the second half.

CSM drops to 4-4 in the GPAC and 7-6-1 overall. Doane improves to 3-4-1, 6-6-2. The Flames play again Wednesday at home against Hastings College at 3 p.m.

"The last few games have beat us down a bit, so we need to refocus and get prepared for a tough few games coming up," Irsik said.