South Whidbey’s last and best hope for a victory was dashed in a wet and windy loss Wednesday night to Lakewood, 1-0.

“It was definitely a pretty even game,” Falcon head coach Ben Rusch said. “The girls really played well. Just one unfortunate slip-up and that’s all it takes.”

Lakewood scored a late goal on the rain-soaked and slippery Waterman’s Field. South Whidbey had its chances, including a near-miss inside Lakewood’s goal box that was deflected and eventually stopped by the Cougar goalkeeper.

The Falcons finished the season without a victory for the first time under head coach Ben Rusch, who took over in 2011 and guided South Whidbey to 5-10, 5-11-1, 5-15 seasons with back-to-back playoff appearances the previous two years.

Wednesday’s match was the only game the Falcons played with their full roster, even if several were still limited by nagging ailments.

“It made a difference to have everybody,” Rusch said.

Injuries plagued South Whidbey from the season’s start. Sophomore forward Leah Rostov missed the opening games, and sophomore Maria Young missed several games throughout the season. Junior defender Anni Field and junior goalie Cassie Neil missed matches. Critically, seniors Olivia Bolding and Kiana Murray, who figured to be main parts of the team’s formations and play plenty of minutes, missed most of the season.

Changes to the conference’s makeup also had an impact. Coupeville, long a league rival to South Whidbey, joined the Olympic League this year. The two island rival schools played in the season opener, with Coupeville winning 2-1. That loss sent South Whidbey tumbling down a hole from which it never recovered.

“We didn’t get any wins early, then didn’t step up. There were no weak teams,” Rusch said.

Defense was far from South Whidbey’s strength. The Falcons allowed a league-worst 65 goals this season. By comparison, undefeated King’s allowed only two goals, and Archbishop Murphy allowed three. Most in the conference, however, allowed between 14 and 32.

“It was a rough year,” Rusch said.

“75 percent of those goals came from small things,” he added. “If one person is out of position a little bit, we get scored on. It’s a lack of experience.”

Rusch said he hoped the tough season would spur returning players, several of whom are juniors this year, to play soccer in the offseason. Even if it means pickup games on the weekend, his belief is that anything with a soccer ball is better than nothing.

“I’m like a broken record, I keep telling them over and over, ‘You have to play in the offseason,’” he said.