The Mexico girls had some emotional highs on Wednesday at home against Fatima.

Mexico vs Fatima Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs were brought down seconds later twice with response goals from Fatima as part of a 5-3 loss for Mexico. Fatima was outshot 13-11 but tied the game at in the eighth minute following a goal from Claire Hudson and padded its lead at 5-3 in the 67th minute following a Brenda Matuz goal.

"That seems to be more of a mentality," head coach Sarah Olson said. "This is in any sports and not just our team, but sometimes, you're so high that the other team gets a little more fight back in them."

Olson said she liked the second half better as Fatima (2-0) didn't stop at that first response goal but added on two goals from Hannah Heisler. Mexico (1-2) wouldn't answered a Fatima goal until the 59th minute to make it 4-2. Hudson scored her second goal at that time off an assist from Matuz.

For a moment in the second half, Matuz thought she scored a goal only for it to waved off due to an offsides call. Olson said it was a "sad" moment then since the execution seemed to be good except for the offsides, but there were other moments that hurt Mexico. She pointed to the handball called in the box on Mexico that preceded a Plassmeyer penalty-kick goal for a 4-1 lead and Heisler's second goal that slowly rolled in off goalkeeper Katie Crews.

Fatima has won four straight meetings with Mexico now, defeating the Lady Bulldogs by two goals or less in three straight. The Lady Comets won the previous two games by only one goal so Olson said Mexico has to address the areas that were exposed.

"It wasn't that they weren't in the right spot, but we got beat because of quickness sometimes," Olson said. "They sent the ball through, and we did not defend well against that."

Olson said Mexico can't dwell on certain moments but rather quickly move on and focus. The reason to dwell on moments against Fatima would be to figure out how to win close games like Wednesday's.

Mexico has been better than its first three games as it has nine goals compared to none at this point last year. Olson said the Mexico has possessed the ball better, including several times against Fatima where the Lady Bulldogs had the ball for several minutes near Fatima's net.

Mexico's goals were "team efforts," especially the back-and-forth between Hudson and Matuz. On the second Mexico goal, Matuz helped Hudson and then Hudson returned the favor with a pass up the field to help Matuz score following her first career goal in the 5-0 home victory against California.

"It was so good," Olson said when asked about Hudson's second goal off the Matuz assist. "We had some really nice goals that were team efforts. I'm pleased with a lot of things that happened out here tonight."

Ultimately, thought, Olson said Mexico still wants the win but let her players know they showed up well against a team that finished second in its district a year ago.

"I told them at halftime that the fight has to be there," Olson said. "If you end the game in a win or loss but you fought, then you can be happy with that result. I'm happy with the fight that they gave."

Mexico hosts the Chris Hotop Classic on Saturday.

Look for a photo gallery in the link near the beginning of the story.