Much like the rain throughout Thursday’s game, the NC State women’s soccer team’s season so far has been stop and start.

Following a three-game win streak, the Wolfpack (3-4-0) has lost two straight, including Thursday night’s 2-0 defeat to UNC-Greensboro (2-5-0) at Dail Soccer Stadium, in a contest featuring two storm delays.

“Bad result,” NC State head coach Tim Santoro said. “Bad result and we didn’t play well. They outworked us, and they deserved to win. We were poor; we were very poor today.”

Once the game got underway 20 minutes after the originally slated 7 p.m. start time, NC State tried to set the tempo. Redshirt junior midfielder Dayna Tomayko and freshman defender Ella Bonner tested Spartan goalkeeper Chloe Buehler with shots from outside the box, but the redshirt sophomore was equal to the task.

Buehler made seven saves during the game, and while she anchored the Greensboro shutout, the visiting team’s offense did the damage on the other end. Junior forward Diarra Simmons gave the Spartans a 1-0 lead in the 30th minute, collecting a flicked on free kick on the left side and knocking a volleyed shot past NC State freshman goalkeeper Sydney Wootten and into the far corner.

In the second half, Santoro gambled to get his team back in the game, removing a defender and adding a forward.

“I’m not really worried whether it’s 1-0 or 3-0 at the end of the game,” Santoro said. “If we never score, it doesn’t matter really how many we give up.”

The Pack got closer to leveling the scoreline, but with 19 minutes to go, the game was again suspended due to lightning in the area. Once play resumed, State looked frantically for an equalizer and pushed numbers forward, and Greensboro grabbed an insurance goal in the 87’ from senior forward Candice Forbes.

“We knew the next goal would probably decide the game,” Santoro said. “If we got it I really thought we would get one or two more, and they got it and it’s game over. The weather was not really an issue tonight.”

Despite holding the majority of possession and outshooting the Spartans 16-13, the Pack struggled to consistently create meaningful chances and settled for hopeful attempts at goal. Only nine of the team’s shots were on target, and none were directed with enough conviction to beat either Buehler or the Spartan defense, which made two crucial goal-saving blocks at the end of the match.

Santoro was frank about his team’s recent offensive struggles.

“We’re just bad in the final third right now,” he said. “We have very little creativity in individuals and little understanding of what we’re trying to do near the goal. Having possession and having territory isn’t enough. You have to have some individuals that understand what you’re trying to do on a consistent basis.

“We do it at times in flashes but it’s not consistent enough, so we just have to keep going at it and hopefully over the next few games we get a few people back in the lineup who give us better choices. We’ll keep working at it.”

Two of the Wolfpack’s most-promising players, freshman forward Maxine Blackwood and sophomore defender Cailyn Boch, were inactive due to injury but are expected back in the next few games.

“We’ll get Max back in a little while and that’ll help us,” Santoro said. “We’re 0-2 since she’s gone out of the lineup, as well as Cailyn. We knew depth was going to be an issue at the beginning of the year and it’s being tested. We just have to get better until we get them back.”

Blackwood already has a goal and an assist to her name so far this season, and the Somerville, New Jersey native has a combination of qualities that have made her nearly undroppable. Her absence has been felt against teams with a more defensive approach to the game.

“We’ve played some good teams where we’ve been able to defend and counter and you have space that way,” Santoro said. “The games we’ve had more of the ball, when we’ve had to attack, there’s been very little creativity. So that’s what we’ve got to keep tweaking and fine-tuning and we will. Disappointed to have this result in the meantime but we’ll get there.”

Finding balance has been a priority for Santoro so far, and after just seven games, he’s found a reliable defensive midfielder in freshman Taylor Porter. The San Diego native had another strong showing in the middle of the field against UNC-G and leads the Pack in assists with two.

“I think it’s all mentality,” said Porter about adding numbers to the wins column. “We had that winning streak and I think we were all mentally prepared for the games, and then we got a little ahead of ourselves. I think we need to go back to being a little more humble and just getting back on track.”

NC State visits Davidson Sunday and will look to return to .500 on the season.