It wasn't the result the Jefferson City Jays were looking for Friday afternoon.
But it's not always about results.
"This game was valuable experience if we want to be a playoff contender," Jays coach Scott Blake said after Jefferson City's 1-0 loss to the Blue Valley Northwest (Kan.) Huskies in the first game of the Art Firley Shootout at the 179 Soccer Park. "We need this experience."
Jefferson City (13-4) entered the contest with wins in 11 of its last 12 games, all but one of the victories by double digits.
"We're not always going to be up 2-0, 3-0 or 4-0 at half like we've been this season, where you get all your work in and then take the second half off," Blake said.
One big difference Friday from the last few weeks was the fact the Huskies won the time of possession battle. Blake estimated it probably has been since the season opener against C.B.C. that Jefferson City came up on the short end in that stat.
"We have to understand it's OK to be in a game where we don't have the ball as much as our opponent has it," he said. "But that's not the way the season has unfolded for us, we've had the ball a lot so far this season.
"We really had to lean on our defending, not chasing, being comfortable without the ball."
It was a scoreless first half Friday, where the Jays defended well and had a handful of potential chances to score.
"We had little flurries," Blake said. "None of them were really dangerous, but we had some."
The Huskies got on the board in the middle of the second half on a goal by Will Vancrum. It was one of six shots on goal in the game for Blue Valley Northwest, who settled into a more defensive style after getting the lead. That made it difficult for the Jays to get many good chances to tie it.
"They were hard to take the ball from, they're big and physical," Blake said. "We just didn't have a whole lot to build off of in the second half and they had a lot to do with that
"We saw somethings we haven't seen out of an opponent this season and I'm glad we did. I'd rather get it now in the the third week of October than in a couple of weeks in the postseason."
Blake is looking to see how his team responds this morning when it continues play in the Shootout against Marquette.
"This one will probably be hard for the players to take, but I definitely see where this one will be helpful," he said. "This team has always responded, they're willing to learn and have bought in what we're trying to do and accomplish.
"I don't think we will have a setback, I think we will respond. We want to play good teams, we need to play good teams. They make us stronger mentally and that's the big thing we can take from this."
Jefferson City and Marquette will play at 10 a.m. today.
The Jays' JV will play a pair of contests today in its version of the Shootout. Jefferson City will play Kickapoo at 10 a.m. and C.B.C. at 3 p.m.
In the following game Friday in the Shootout, Marquette blanked Nixa 1-0. On Friday night, Rockhurst defeated Chaminade 2-1 in penalty kicks, while C.B.C. was a 4-0 winner against Kickapoo.