Through the first few weeks of spring, Fauquier’s girls soccer team had few opportunities to practice outdoors.

The rust showed in Monday’s 4-0 home loss to Conference 22 foe Courtland.

“We’ve practiced outside a few times on a 25-by-40-yard patch of grass,” Coach Rick Ashley said. “We haven’t been able to work on a lot.”

Senior midfielder Emily Coporali scored the game’s first goal with 28:04 left in the first half. Coporali finished off a crossing pass from Paige Robertson.

The Cougars struck again with 2:03 left before halftime on Robertson’s header out of a corner kick.

“They had a lot of good shots; they’re a really good team,” Falcons senior goalie Caroline Liebel said. “The ball was in our half (of the field) almost the entire game.”

Liebel finished with 21 saves on 25 shots. Ashley thought his keeper had an “outstanding” game.

Fauquier (1-1) managed just six shots.

Ashley pointed to Courtland as the bar his team must meet by season’s end.

He mentioned composure on the ball, speed of play, pass accuracy and better first touches as keys to improvement.

“I thought our defense and goalkeeper played well,” he said. “It’s just when we got the ball, we weren’t working well with our structure.”

Kayla Locklear and Shyla Garcia scored in the second half for the Cougars.

“It’s frustrating,” Liebel said. “We try to get the ball upfield and it’s down our throats basically.”