With a 2-0 loss to Peoria City, the Missouri Reign has ended its second season of conference games in the Women's Professional Soccer League.

The Reign (2-0-6) completed their second season of conference games in the Women's Professional Soccer League, finishing in fourth in the Gateway Division. With a 1-2-7 record last season in the Heartland Conference, the team has shown improvement.

Peoria City is coming off a 3-0 win over FC Pride and has conceded only one goal in its last five games. With the win it moved them to second in the standings behind Lou Fusz.

The Reign had to deal with some injuries, providing opportunities for those who otherwise wouldn't get them. Aussie center back Yazmin Baird-Watson was out for the second consecutive game and Lily Patterson replaced her again. Also, defender Kourtney Tucker was sidelined for the game, allowing Kayla Juengermann to step into her role. Goalies Katy Fitzler and Natalie Allison had both been solid all year and each played one half, with Fitzler getting the start. This was something that Acock had been wanting to do all season.

"Both of them have played very solid for us this summer," Acock said. "There's not really a set starter and it would've been more split had it not been for Katy's injury."

Drury midfielder Baylea Davis recorded her first start of the season. She has primarily played on the Division II squad. Drury forward Reagan Hegarty stepped into the starting role as well. Jefferson City native Amaura Austell saw heavy minutes and also Ava Martin played as well, though neither started and both had played on the second team for most of the year. Austell played well in the Reign's 5-0 exhibition win against Sunflower State on June 10, recording the final two goals of the contest. Acock praised all of them for stepping up and taking the challenge.

"Reagan and Baylea did a great job filling in," Acock said. "They worked hard and deserved the opportunities that they got tonight. Amaura and Ava are stepping into roles that we would have never envisioned taking on this season and they played great. They rose to the occasion in a game that's only gonna build their confidence for the future."

From the start, Peoria asserted itself. The visitors applied pressure on the Reign's back line and played more physical and fast than the home team. In the 16th minute, AJ Mayock scored the first goal of the match off a blocked shot that went right to her, securing the lone goal of the first half. The bend don't break style of defense the Reign have used all season worked for the most part as the back line held their own. They allow the ball to move around but make it difficult for their opponents to create wide open looks. Thus, most of the shots on Saturday resulted in easy saves for Fitzler or Allison.

However, the Reign's offense struggled to create many scoring opportunities and has now been held scoreless for their third consecutive conference game. Peoria's defense has been stout all season, surrendering only five goals in its seven contests. The Reign could not record many chances in their front third. Defenders Bree Cordray and Sosi Dadekian stifled the Reign, not allowing many chances in that back third.

Early in the second half, the Reign started to play more assertive and created more opportunities. On many set pieces they got the ball into the box, however Peoria had more size and cleared the ball away with a header before the Reign could touch it.

One of the Reign's best chances in the second half came in the 62nd minute. First year player Holland Hawkins had a breakaway opportunity, but she tried what looked to be a cross from outside the box but no Reign player was there for the shot, as the ball went wide right of the post. Whether it was a pass or a shot, she had enough space in front of her where she could've waited for a runner or dribbled it inside the box and taken a shot.

Throughout the second half, Allison did everything she could to keep the Reign down just one goal. After a Reign turnover she made a great save on a shot from Peorias Annika Klauss in the top of the net. In the 73rd minute she punched the ball away. Great goalie play and solid defense helped the Reign stay down 1-0 for most of the match. However, in the 85th minute Miki Hayashi scored on a penalty, essentially putting a nail in the Reign's coffin.

With conference games in the books, Acock reflected on his squads play, and emphasized that this level of competition is some of the hardest competition a lot of the roster has played against.

"Our players wanted to be coached this year and that is something that I will never take for granted," Acock said. "At this point in the season, we've done a ton of development. On paper, we don't have the resumes of other teams, but we showed that we belonged at these games nonetheless. I can't complain about that."

He also praised how his girls have done listening and trying to execute what Acock and his staff are asking of them.

"I am not gonna go out there and hold their hand or put the joystick in my hands and try to make a perfect system that they need to play within," Acock said. "They have to make decisions on their own and we want to put them in a position where they're gonna have to make thousands over the course of the game. Some of them will be right, some of them will be wrong, but at the end of the day they're gonna learn from that. Soccer is not a game of coaches making decisions for players, it's a players game and they're the ones that have to make the decisions in the moment."

The Reign have four division II games left and the first team plays its next game as an exhibition game left for the first squad at 6 p.m. Wednesday in Columbia.