The Chattanooga Football Club women must wait a couple of weeks to try again for their first-ever home win.
Kelly Downs doesn't want to wait that long for a victory.
The CFC women fell to 0-2 in their inaugural season with a 2-0 loss Saturday night against the FC Nashville Wolves at Finley Stadium.
After showing a lot of promise on offense in its debut match against Mississippi Fuego FC, the CFC struggled for most of its second contest. The home team finished with 10 shots on goal and a number of dangerous opportunities but was unable to get a shot completely across the goal line -- although one nearly got there.
"Today was frustrating," said Downs, a former Soddy-Daisy standout. "We didn't complete passes and we couldn't finish shots, so we have a few things to work on in practice -- like talking.
"I hope we get it together on the road Saturday."
Midway through the second half with CFC already two goals down, a ball bouncing inside the box was struck by both Katy Morris and Suzanne Arafa. It hit the bottom part of the crossbar and looked as if it had angled over the yellow line, but it was not officially called a goal.
"Take nothing away from Nashville, but I think we had good opportunities in the second half," CFC coach Patrick Winecoff said. "Any time you leave goals on the table and don't score on them, it'll come back to bite you, and it did us today. It's unfortunate that we weren't able to get some of those goals that were sitting there, because when you miss out on opportunities like that, it takes the wind out of your sails."
The Wolves (2-0) scored in the 39th minute when Tori Pitts -- who originally was going to play for CFC -- took a pass in the middle of the box, turned and nailed a shot past CFC keeper Taylor Davidson for a 1-0 edge.
They added to that lead when a ball wasn't properly cleared out of the box in the 64th minute, leading to a goal by Emily Maston. Out of the five goals scored by opponents this season, only one -- Pitts' first-half goal -- could be considered a solid goal and not just a result of a miscommunication of some sort by CFC.
"They're new together," Winecoff said. "Some of the girls, we've had a little over a week. We're sorting out what we can do to be able to communicate a little better on the field. You see it on the back line a little bit already, and you'll see it in the midfield and up front as we go."
The hosts made a late push, with Nikki Gears leading Arielle Hansford just a little too much on a cross late in the match and Charlotte Canlett breaking free but seeing keeper Shannon O'Brien make a great diving save on her shot.
Former GPS standout Simone Busby came in late in the second half and made three saves in her first action of the season.
The CFC women visit the Knoxville Lady Force Saturday at 5 p.m. and the Alabama FC on June 6. They will be home the following day for a match against Georgia Revolution.
"We're going to have to make our first win an away game," Downs said. "Sometimes it's good to win on someone else's turf to bring them down."
Jesters nip CFC men
At New Orleans, the Jesters' Caio Cruz scored the go-ahead goal in the 84th minute, and the home team won 3-2 to give the CFC men their first loss of the season.
Reece Wilson and Keir Hannity had the Jesters' other goals.
Thibault Charmey had a goal and an assist for CFC (2-1-1). He found Leo De Smedt for a goal in the fifth minute to give CFC a 1-0 edge and scored to put his team back out in front, 2-1. The Jesters tied the match again in the 61st minute.
CFC is back on the pitch this afternoon at Pensacola, Fla., to face Pensacola City. Kickoff is at 1.
Contact Gene Henley at ghenley@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6311. Follow him at twitter.com/genehenleytfp