It didn't get much easier for the Mexico girls on Tuesday.

Mexico vs Marshall Photo Gallery

The Lady Bulldogs lost their third straight game and were shut out for the second straight game when they lost 4-0 to North Central Missouri Conference foe Marshall. Taylor Fann netted a hat trick, and Marshall (4-5, 1-1 NCMC) scored three goals in the second half to pull away.

Head coach Sarah Olson said Mexico (4-5, 1-2 NCMC) picked up two close back-to-back wins in a 1-0 victory over district foe Wright City and a 2-1 double-overtime marathon against Kirksville but then had to face two winning Class 3 programs Jefferson City and Hannibal on the road. The Lady Bulldogs lost 4-1 at Jefferson City (5-2) and then 8-0 at Hannibal (7-2) in the fourth shutout in four conference games for the Lady Pirates. Marshall has eight straight double-digit winning seasons and have beaten Mexico every time since 2014.

"There are tough parts of your schedule," Olson said. "One, the amount of games, and two, the competitiveness of the people you're playing. This is just a tough part of the season. You get exposed in these parts a lot so we have to be able to adjust."

Olson said Marshall played "a little faster" so Mexico couldn't find open passes to move out of the defensive half. The Lady Owls had girls with speed, but Olson thought Mexico shut them down 90 percent of the time. That 10 percent often led to goals.

Marshall was busy in the second half with 10 shots and 10-11 corner kicks, according to Olson's count. Halftime would have been scoreless if not for Fann knocking in a point-blank goal after a ricochet off a Mexico defender. That was an unlucky goal after a solid defensive half for the Lady Bulldogs.

"The fact we defended all of those was a positive," Olson said. "We had (that goal) fairly  well-covered. We can shut down the initial thing's that happening, but they were marked up the box and just popped out."

Olson said she is proud Mexico executed some offensive plays that it hasn't done much before this season. There weren't much scoring opportunities, but each one gave Marshall a bit of a scare.

Bailey Christianson did well setting up some shots, Olson said, and Emily Moppin and Zoey Norton did well sending the ball.

"They were sending the ball through to the corner and then were getting a cross across," Olson said. "I'm not saying it hasn't happened, but we haven't seen it recently."

Olson said Mexico hopes to figure more "little things" it can add to the team's game even through this tough part of the schedule. Conference and district rival Moberly (5-2, 1-1) plays at Mexico at 6:30 p.m. Thursday to present another tough challenge for Mexico. The Marshall game got away from Mexico after a couple of breakaways converted by Fann that followed "little things" adding up.

"Any goal can be broken down into any number of mistakes," Olson said. "Just some times of being out of position and small mistakes can lead to that. Once someone does have a breakway, if they're quick enough and skilled enough with the ball, it's really hard to shut it down. So it's usually what's happening before that."