Since giving up five goals in their season opener, the Person girls’ soccer team has really shored up its defense, allowing just two tallies in the last three contests.

Unfortunately, the Rockets are also having trouble scoring, and that trend continued Thursday evening at Rocket Stadium in a 1-0 loss to the South Granville Vikings.

In the 160 minutes of soccer played between these two teams this season, each team scored just once.

Person bested SG by a 1-0 count a week earlier.

Person had several chances but was unable to convert on a number of breakaways. Forward Carter Tuck had five shots on goal and broke free down the wing off feeds from Tori Whitfield on several occasions, but none of the opportunities resulted in a goal for the home team.

Rocket head coach Doug McNeill said his team needs to continue to work on improving in skill areas, especially passing.

“Our passing just wasn’t there tonight. I think we played a lot better against Bartlett Yancey [on Monday],” he said. “We played panic ball tonight. We either waited too long to make passes, or weren’t patient enough. We still have a lot of work to do.”

The shots-on-goal ended up even at 10 apiece, and Person had a 4-0 edge in corner kicks.

Having played to a scoreless tie through one half, the Vikings got the better of the play through the opening 20 minutes of period two, and made it pay off when Mary Weeks got free in front and pushed a roller past Rocket goalie Amber Bumphus for the game’s lone tally at 31:45.

In the final 20 minutes, Person stepped up its intensity in an effort to net the equalizer.

Midway through the half, Diana Gonzalez drilled a hard shot from the slot that sailed right to the SG goalkeeper.

As well, Chelsea Vaughn was denied when she broke in alone in the final 10 minutes but seemed to fire her shot sooner than she needed to, as it appeared she had time to get closer before letting it fly.

Another Person attempt in the final two minutes sailed over the net.

McNeill credited South Granville’s defense, which made it hard for his frontline to penetrate the goal.

“They did a much better job on defense against us this time. We couldn’t get through and get good shots off against them,” he said.

Bumphus and Sara Hora, who was Person’s net-minder in the first half, combined for nine saves in the game.

The Rockets fell to 1-3 with the loss and face a stiff test when they take on Piedmont Athletic Conference powerhouse Chapel Hill on Monday at Rocket Stadium (6 p.m. start).