The Tigers (0-2) got out to a slow start to the season, losing their first two games to DePaul 2-1, and Valparaiso 1-0.

The DePaul Blue Devils got ahead of Tigers 0:11 into Friday’s game on a goal by forward Ashleigh Goddard.

“That wasn’t the start we had in mind,” Heach Coach Greg Paynter said. “But we have a young team, so we had some nerves and we made some early mistakes.”

Blue Devils forward Natasa Radosavljevic scored again at 13:23 on a pass from Goddard.

Although the Tigers were out-shot 16-6, they were able to score their first goal of the season at 66:45, when senior forward Cheyenne Skidmore put a ball past Blue Devils goalkeeper Megan Pyrs, after a pass by junior midfielder Kat Sipes.

“After the early goals, we were able to rebound in the second half pretty well,” Paynter said. “We just couldn’t recover from those two goals, though.”

Skidmore hopes to continue her offensive performance of last year, when she led the team in goals, assists, points and shots.

The Tigers were defeated again on Sunday by the Valparaiso Crusaders, who got the only goal of the game on a penalty kick at 78:34. The Crusaders ended up out-shooting the Tigers 14-4, forcing the Crusaders’ goalkeeper to only make two saves.

“We had some good chances throughout the game,” Paynter said. “[Skidmore] got a great chance on an unbelievable breakthrough, but we just couldn’t get through their [Valparasio’s] defense.”

Despite the losses, Paynter said he is excited about the level of goalkeeping from sophomore Erin Quinn, who saved 11 of 14 shots in the first two games, and is coming off a year when she only started two games, and faced 30 shots, giving up six goals in 180 minutes.

“We have just gotten great goalkeeping so far,” he said. “We made some mistakes on defense, but we were saved a couple of times by Erin’s goalkeeping.”

Paynter said the team will look past these two losses, and instead look forward to its next match against Mount St. Mary’s Aug. 24.

The Tigers do not start CAA play until Sept. 21 when the Tigers take on Delaware. According to Paynter, who is in his sixth year as head coach of the team, that game begins the most important part of the season.

Paynter also said the team will also benefit from getting junior forward Emily Banes back, who scored eight goals last season, and set a school record last season by scoring in five straight games from Sept. 2 through Sept. 16. Banes did not play in either game this weekend.

“When we get Emily Banes back, it will definitely open up some offensive opportunities for us, which we are looking forward to going into the game against Mount St. Mary’s,” Paynter said. “She attracts a lot of attention from the defense, and we hope that that will produce more openings for players like [Skidmore] to get scoring chance.”