The Falcon women’s soccer team may want to take what Rocky Balboa’s manager Mickey told him in the ‘Rocky’ movies.

‘When you’re going down, remember, you’ve got this little angel on your shoulder saying: get up you…’

The Falcons sit at 4-9-2 (0-4-2 Mid-American Conference) and are on the verge of being eliminated from playoff contention. With a five game schedule left on the books, it’s time for the team to step up.

‘It’s all about persevering,’ said coach Andy Richards. ‘We could throw the towel and kick ourselves, or we could continue to persevere.’

For the Falcons it’s been a plethora of individual mistakes and not seizing opportunities that has cost them. Coming off another rough weekend where their best result was a tie, it’s definitely time to start getting some much needed wins.

‘We’re not asking the girls to go into Michigan State now and win,’ Richards said. ‘We’re not asking them to go into Ohio State now and win, or to travel out to California and win two games. We’ve got five games left and they are all in the MAC, and they are all double wins.’

The coach said the team needs to win at least four games to make the playoffs, but five should get them in for sure.

The Falcons host Kent State today at 4 p.m. and Buffalo Sunday at 1 p.m., their last two games on a four-game home stand.

It’s really been small moments in the games that have decided their unfortunate outcomes as of late. Three of their last four losses have been by one goal.

‘We could win all five of these games, but then again we could have won our last six games,’ Richards said.

While this latter part of the season has been confusing to Richards, he still remains optimistic and the team feeds off of his energy.