Lakeland High School’s girls’ soccer team proved too passive on Monday, falling to visiting Lafayette High School by the score of 3-0.

The Lady Cavaliers also lost 6-0 to speedy host Indian River High School in Friday’s season opener.

On Monday, Lakeland head coach Matt Crowder said his team gave up an early penalty kick and was not playing great soccer through the first 40 minutes.

“Our first half was poor, but we started playing better a lot (in) the second half,” he said.

Crowder said the problem was the Lady Cavs were not taking the attack to the Lady Rams and were rather playing on their heels, waiting for an attack. This issue was most significant in the midfield.

“Midfield’s got to step up and do a lot better job of pressuring the ball initially,” he said.

After halftime, Crowder moved some players around and noticed his young team began to respond positively.

“We definitely made some changes, and maybe we should have made them earlier,” he said.

Freshman Kaylee Connor strengthened the midfield, looking to distribute the ball in the middle.

“Julianna Durand and Amanda Mason up top were getting a whole lot more pressure,” Crowder said, and senior Carol Holland applied some, as well.

The Lakeland offense held possession of the ball for much of the last 10 minutes of the game, but could not finish.

“When we have opportunities on goal like we’ve had, we need to finish,” Crowder said. “I definitely think it was a game that should have been closer.”

Regarding Friday’s loss to Indian River, Crowder gave credit to the Lady Braves.

“They played very well, they were very fast, always first to the ball,” he said.

But he was pleased with Lakeland’s defense for part of the game, noting that his young team must work to put together a complete 80-minute performance.

Lakeland (0-2, 0-0) hosts Oscar Smith High School on Thursday and Nansemond River High School on Friday.