It was an up-and-down weekend for the Kansas soccer team, with two closely-contested games and a single, scoreless draw against Colorado College Sunday to show for it.

Coach Mark Francis said he was glad the team was able to bounce back from a bad effort on Friday against Denver, which it lost 2-1. He said it had four or five good opportunities to score but that the Colorado College goalkeeper Caitlin Hulyo made a few good saves.

“We fought really hard,” Francis said. “We deserved to win the game, to be honest with you.”

But Francis did not think the team deserved to beat Denver. Both Francis and junior defender Lauren Jackson said they thought the team didn’t show up against Denver Friday even though they started with the lead.

Kansas scored first after sophomore forward Emily Cressy lofted a shot over Denver goalkeeper Lara Campbell. Junior midfielder Rachel Morris found Cressy open near the top of the box, and she turned and put the Jayhawks ahead 1-0.

But less than three minutes later, Denver scored on a header from Kaitlin Bast to knot the score at one going into halftime.

Both teams had their chances in the second half, but it was a Denver free kick from 25 yards out that sealed Kansas’ fate. It skipped just to the right of senior goalkeeper Julie Hanley and put Kansas behind for the first time all season.

“We just misjudged it,” Francis said.

The Jayhawks furiously tried to even the score, but couldn’t avoid their first loss of the season.

On Sunday, neither Kansas nor Colorado College could find the net, coming to a scoreless draw after 110 minutes of play. However, Francis said he couldn’t fault his team’s effort.

“After we played so poorly on Friday, I was sort of curious how they would bounce back today,” Francis said afterward. “I was proud of them because I thought they really handled it well.”

Kansas’ 22 shots reflected the number of opportunities they had to come out of the weekend with a victory. Freshman forward Whitney Berry led the barrage with six shots.

Berry nearly scored twice after breaking free on the far side of the field in the second half. Her first attempt was saved, but the rebound came back to her feet. Her second attempt glanced off the near post.

The Jayhawks had chances until the very end. Francis said he thought Jackson scored with around five seconds left to play. He said Jackson’s attempt was about “an inch wide.”

Jackson said she thought the team didn’t need to get better in any way, but they needed to improve mentally.

“I just think we need to show up for every game,” Jackson said.

Their record drops to 5-1-1 with the Kansas Invitational looming this weekend. They take on San Diego at 5 p.m. Friday.

— — Edited by Amanda Thompson