The Moose Jaw Mustangs played strong second and third periods, but it was the opening frame that cost them on Wednesday night in Junior Division action in the Prairie Gold Lacrosse League.

Moose Jaw fell behind 8-1 in the first period to the Regina Rifles and went on to lose 12-6 at Mosaic Place, dropping their record to 0-5 on the year.

“We didn’t have guys on the same page on defence, a lot of little things,” said Captain Mason Viczko on their first period. “It all starts in practice and clearly that’s something we need to work on for next week.”

Regina opened the scoring just 29 seconds into the game on a goal from Fraiser Belanger and then had a stretch in the first period where they scored seven goals in 10:58.

Bailey Bechtold scored Moose Jaw’s lone goal in the opening frame, but the Mustangs responded with a strong second period that saw them cut Regina’s lead to 10-4 and they were even in the third period with each side scoring twice.

“It was nice to see how we played over the final 40 minutes, especially after the first period, it was a little bit of piece of mind to see we’re still there, we can still compete, but that slip up in the first cost us the game,” said Viczko, who had a goal and two points in the loss.

Bechtold posted a goal and three points to lead the way offensively for the Mustangs. Derian Pratt, Josh Fitzpatrick, Liam Kerr and Nathan McKenna also scored in the loss.

The Mustangs are still searching for their first win of the season, but Viczko feels they’re continuing to get stronger each time out.

“It’s coming slower than expected, but you can’t rush it, you can’t get mad, you just have to slowly keep working at it,” he said.

Moose Jaw returns to the court next Thursday when they travel to Saskatoon to take on the SWAT.

In other Prairie Gold Lacrosse League action, the Moose Jaw Chiefs will host the Saskatoon Steelers on Thursday night at Mosaic Place. They hit the court at 8 p.m.