Nichole Poppe led the University of Mount Olive in shots but it was not enough to overcome a 2-0 deficit as they fell to Lincoln Memorial University Sunday morning in non-conference women's soccer.

Mount Olive (0-2) stayed with the Railsplitters shot for shot in the opening nine minutes as each team fired in thee attempted shots on goal. Lincoln Memorial (1-1) struck first in the contest when Fernanda Miaci found the net off the feed from Nicole McKinney 9:24 into the first period.

The Trojans had a chance to equalize in the 38th minute, however the ball hit off the crossbar and the Railsplitters regained possession. The first period came to a close with LMU on top 1-0.

Going into the second half both teams played it close to the wire for a majority of the period with neither team pulling away until Lincoln Memorial found the back of the net for the second and final time in the 87th minute off the foot of Maddy Nagy.

The Trojans were not able to capitalize on a corner kick in the 89th minute as the shot from the corner was blocked and the contest drew to a conclusion and Mount Olive fell 2-0.

Ellie Barnes commented on the team's performance this weekend after facing two very strong teams in Columbus State and Lincoln Memorial and her outlook going into conference play.

"I felt like the level of play the that we were up against was difficult and should prepare us for conference and non-conference play the rest of the season," said Barnes. "I feel like we were pretty evenly matched and we'll have more confidence going into conference."

Mount Olive scored two goals against Columbus State on Friday and had 11 shots against Lincoln Memorial on Sunday. Barnes talked about the team's ability to continue to create more scoring opportunities and capitalize on more opportunities as the season continues.

"Of course we're working in practice on shakes and winning the ball and how we attack and I'm very confident that we will get more swing opportunities," said Barnes. "We have a lot of great girls that can finish and are confident on the ball. We're going to have a lot of swing opportunities and get a lot of goals in this year."

Mount Olive returns home to open up at Amon Field against Catawba College on Wednesday. Match time is set for 4 p.m.