The Jefferson City Lady Jays may have lost Wednesday night's game a couple of days earlier.
"We emptied a lot of tanks Monday, we didn't go very deep and we just didn't have a lot tonight," Lady Jays coach Joren Trimble said after Jefferson City dropped a 6-0 decision to the Union Lady Wildcats at Dwight T. Reed Stadium.
The Lady Jays were coming off a 4-1 loss on the road Monday at Ozark.
"We just had trouble matching Union's intensity level and it showed," Trimble said. "We were slow to the ball because we were a little sore. We just didn't have enough time to recover."
Union, a Class 3 Final Four team from 2018 that returns a wealth of experience, wasn't the ideal opponent Wednesday night for a team a little battered and bruised.
"We knew it was going to be a test," Trimble said.
Union (7-1) got on the board in the opening four minutes, then took a 2-0 lead into halftime on a goal with about 13 minutes to go before intermission.
The Lady Wildcats doubled their lead with two goals in the opening five minutes of the second half. Union made it 5-0 with about 28 minutes to play, then added its final score with a little more than four minutes remaining.
"You kind of hope to see some progress, but we just didn't have it tonight," Trimble said.
On the positive side, even though Jefferson City couldn't find the back of the net, Trimble liked what he saw in the run of play from the offense.
"We moved the ball well through the center of the field, we were good in transition," Trimble said. "But we're not playing as a unit right now, we're not all together just yet as a full 11.
"We just have to be a little quicker."
The game was moved from 179 Soccer Park to the turf at Dwight T. Reed Stadium due to worries regarding the grass surface on Jefferson City's home field.
"Player safety is always the No. 1 concern," Trimble said. "It's a little wet right now, we could have played on it, but there are some green spots that are higher than the brown ones and it's so uneven."
The Lady Jays had a couple of players leave Wednesday night's game due to injuries.
"We're only six games in and we're losing players," Trimble said. "It's a concern."
The Lady Jays will have to rely on some inexperienced players for the near future.
"We are going to have to throw some of the younger kids out there into the fire at some new positions," Trimble said. "We're going to have to get some experience for them."
There will be little time to recover as Jefferson City will play three games this weekend in Springfield. The Lady Jays (3-3) will play Camdenton on Friday, before taking on Poplar Bluff and Republic on Saturday.
"We just need to have a positive weekend," Trimble said.
It's the second time Jefferson City will meet Camdenton this season. The Lady Jays were 2-0 winners against the Lady Lakers on March 27.