The Missouri Reign definitely learned a thing or two from its exhibition matchup against KC Current II on Monday that carried over in the 3-0 home loss to Lou Fusz Athletic.

The Reign (2-0-5) played a great first 25 minutes against the Current before surrendering a goal. Against Lou Fusz (5-1-0), which is the highest scoring team in the Gateway Division (17 goals for in six games), they did not concede a goal until the 75th minute, the latest first goal the St. Louis squad have scored this season.

Tuesday night, the team sat down in a training session and watched the first half film of the Current game. Coach Dakota Acock shared what they talked about in their meeting.

"(We) showed what it looks like when you can communicate, step and contain and do a lot of the simple things effectively," Acock said.

On the pitch Wednesday night, his girls showed that for the first 75 minutes.

The Reign's defense was down one of their best defenders in center back Yazmin Baird-Watson, forcing the others to have to step up. The Aussie is a big leader in that back group of four and was unable to play due to an injury. Lily Patterson started in her place, and drew high praise from Acock for her performance in what is usually Baird-Watson's role.

The game was much closer than the score suggests, for most of the match who came out victorious was in the balance.

It took until the 19th minute to see a shot on goal for either side. Mia Devroaux, who plays for the Missouri Tigers soccer team, recorded the first shot on goal. It went right to Reign keeper Kayla Fitzler, who is in net for just the second conference game this season, the last was against the same Lou Fusz team back on May 26.

The first half was pretty even for both sides. Each team created many scoring opportunities, with the home team recording five shots on goal. The Reign held the edge in passing (146) and possession (58%) against their conference foes. So, if you say they played the better first half of the two squads, I could see your argument.

No matter the type of attack Lou Fusz's offense threw at the Reign's defense, they always had an answer, limiting the road team to just four shots on goal in the first half.

All year the offense has been able to create goal scoring opportunities and good looks on net, but for whatever reason haven't been able to find the back of the net. Scoring goals seems to be an area of improvement for the team, having been shutout in four conference games this season and three straight games including Monday's exhibition. However, creating the chances is an improvement from last season. Acock believes his team has just been unlucky in not scoring them but "must continue to grow and learn from some of those close chances."

In the second half, Lou Fusz seemed to have figured things out and shifted the momentum in its favor at around the 65th minute. The Reign did not have many other great chances after this point. Devroaux broke the 0-0 tie in the 75th minute on a cross from Meghan Belrose.

They say scoring comes in bunches, and that was the case for the Fusz. Miscommunication by the Reign defense allowed midfielder Ashley Miller to be 1-on-1 with Fitzler and she capitalized, making it 2-0 in the 81st minute. Thus making Reign's comeback chances even more difficult. Kyler Anderson's header off a corner in the 87th minute tallied the third and final goal and put the nail in the coffin for the Reign.

One thing we've seen all season with Acock's team is they will always fight and show full effort no matter the score, up until the very end. Despite playing more exhibition games this season and four games in six days, Acock said his team is always physically prepared and energized.

"(They) do a good job of taking care of their bodies outside of the sessions we've had," Acock said. "We've limited the training days that we've had recently to match the workload of games and exhibitions we've had."

As for the non-conference division II matchup between the two squads, Lou Fusz won that one by the same score. Lightning shortened that game to only 70 minutes. Anytime there's a long stoppage in play it can be tough for a team to refocus and Acock thinks his division II squad struggled some in that aspect on Wednesday.

The Reign play their final home game against Peoria City (4-0-2) at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at R. Marvin Owens Field. Peoria is coming off a 3-0 upset win over FC Pride on Sunday, so it will be well rested.