Though the WKU soccer team captured its first win of the season last Friday against Evansville, the Lady Toppers face “wholesale changes” after a playing a sloppy contest Friday night.

Though it tied Ball State (6-2) with 15 shots taken, WKU (1-3-1) dropped the contest 1-0 after playing the match with a constant mist and a soggy playing field.

No one was willing to attribute any part of the loss to adverse conditions, though.

Junior midfielder Kelsey Meyer, who had two shots on goal, said the rain held no weight in terms of an excuse.

“I think we came out here with no effort tonight,” Meyer said. “I think we just came out here thinking we were going to win and stepped on the field pretty much arrogant.”

Ball State’s Sarah Orisich dribbled past Lady Topper defenders before placing a ball in the back of the net in the 33rd minute. It was all the Cardinals needed.

While Mallory Outerbridge, a redshirt junior forward, said the conditions were annoying Friday, mistakes that were made prior to Ball State’s goal were to blame in her view.

“We started out sluggish and they got a lucky goal,” Outerbridge said. “We just couldn’t put one in the back of the net … It sucked.”

The mistakes that were made throughout the game did so much as to force Head Coach Jason Neidell to reconsider the playing rotation for Sunday’s game at Eastern Kentucky.

He said the main reason his team lost was lack of attention to detail.

The fact that the coaching staff discussed details and their importance before the game made Friday night’s effort tough to swallow for Neidell.

“We’re not a very good team if we don’t take care of the details,” Neidell said. “I thought our effort was pretty good. I just thought it was misguided.”

He said the team’s intelligence isn’t very high as it stands, alluding to its inability to make wise in-game decisions and adjustments.

Heading into the game, Neidell said he wanted to hold Ball State to 10 shots or less — a goal that if met could’ve been the key to victory.

“We’re going to make wholesale changes on Sunday,” he said. “We’re going to put some other kids in the game and see if they do better.”