The Packers are young and they’re still struggling to find a way to score goals consistently, but they’re certainly not counting themselves out with just two games left on the schedule.

The Austin girls soccer team lost 1-0 to Mankato East (6-6-1 overall, 4-4-1 Big Nine) in Art Hass Stadium Thursday.

Austin (1-6-4 overall, 1-5-2 Big Nine) has scored just eight goals in 11 games this season, but the team hasn’t dropped its intensity and it has been in every game.

The Packers used a mix of young players and veterans to put some second half pressure on the Cougars, but they could muster just four shots total.

“We can’t keep playing just one half. We need to play both halves,” Austin head coach Enrique Camarena-Corzo said. “Our program is getting better and we have a lot of numbers. The message to the girls on varsity is you better take advantage, because it’s a privilege to be on varsity. We need to have our best twenty two for section and we need to go for it.”

Austin looked had key minutes from seventh grader Morgan Raymond, eighth grader Erin Bickler, and freshmen Myia Hoium, Maya Wuertz and Nicole Summerfield on Thursday.

Chloe Summerfield played the first half at keeper, where she made 17 big saves, then she played forward in the second half and Jora Bothun made nine saves.

“We are not afraid to bring up JV players and we’re not afraid to switch keepers, because we believe in every single player,” Camarena-Corzo said. “We have four seniors and we have four juniors. The rest is a pretty young team and we have a lot to learn.”

The Cougars scored their only goal with 5:05 left in the first half when Natalie Schisel tapped in a rebound.