OLATHE, Kan. -- As Cassidy Merrick left the field after Friday morning's game, she flashed a disappointed grin to coach Mark Hiemenz. Merrick was missing a tooth.

It was one of those days for the Carroll College women's soccer team.

In spite of overcoming an obvious size disadvantage with tenacity and physical play, the 11th-seeded Saints -- in their first-ever national tournament contest -- couldn't catch their breaks and fell to No. 6 Lee University 2-1 during a cold and blustery morning at the NAIA Women's Soccer National Championship.

At a point in the year when opportunities continue or end a season, it did the latter for the Saints. Facing a Lee team that lost in the national championship game 1-0 last season, Carroll controlled the ball throughout the first half, kept Lee on its heels, and looked like the squad with more national tournament experience.

If only it weren't for the bad breaks. Indeed, the Saints gave up only three shots on-goal in the first half. Two of those, however, turned into goals for Lee.

During the 11th minute, the Lady Flames got on the board first when Ashley Fosnaugh rolled in a shot from near the top of the penalty area. On the play, the ball squirted out of the hands of Carroll goalkeeper Nikki Skaggs, who was on her knees after aggressively grabbing the ball from a Lee player.

"That first one was a gift," Hiemenz said. "You can't give away many goals in a championship type game."

Then, in the 26th minute, Lee's Janaina Novaes scored on a misdirected ball off the foot of Jodie McGuckin, giving the Lady Flames a 2-0 lead.

"Through some tough breaks, we were left with trying to dig ourselves out of a hole," said Hiemenz. "Psychologically we were OK. In fact, I'd say they did remarkably well because after those two goals they could've folded, but they didn't.

"We've played games against four top-10 opponents this season, and all of those games were tight," added Hiemenz, referring to Azusa Pacific, Simon Fraser, which Carroll beat, Concordia and Point Loma Nazarene.

"We scheduled tough teams like those to be ready to play in a situation like this and not be intimidated."

In the 39th minute of the first half, Carroll's Hannah Young drilled a shot by three Lee defenders on an assist by Merrick, cutting Lee's lead to 2-1. It was Young's eighth goal of the year.

During the second half, most of which seemed to be played near midfield, the Saints mustered just three shots on-goal.

The Saints finish the season with a 13-6-1 record. The loss marks the end of the careers for four seniors: Maggie Best, Lacey Knoles, Lindsay Loraas, Sarah McLaughlin and Merrick, a starter whose false tooth was jarred out by a Lady Flames' elbow during the first half.

"(Merrick's) been a fixture for four years, and a significant force for us," Hiemenz said. "She's a complete player, who elevates the play of everyone around her. It'll be tough to replace her."

Friday's loss, which doesn't diminish the Saints' accomplishment of reaching the national tournament for the first time in school history, should give the other players some valuable experience and an impetus for 2007.

"Obviously everyone is disappointed and upset right now," Hiemenz said. "But the national tournament is why we play and why we recruit the players we do. We have a lot of returning players who just got a taste of the tournament. This will make us want to get back here again next year."