"We really haven't been able to find somebody to control the middle," Gaels Coach Marco Calderon said. "[Forwards] Vanessa [Davis] and Krista [Parino] are fast and talented, but if nobody is putting any passes through it becomes difficult.
"I'm not so much concerned with not scoring, I'm just concerned about finding our [midfielders] and working with our goalie a little more to give her more confidence."
The Jaguars (2-9-1, 2-0) took a 1-0 lead in the fifth minute on Olivia Uranga's put back of a teammate's deflected shot.
They kept the pressure on the Gaels and goalkeeper Alex Micu, but did not score again until Halverson rolled a shot through in the 29th minute.
Micu allowed the goal by attempting an ill-conceived kick to stop the shot the rather than smothering it, a gaffe she repeated with identical results in the second half.
With the ball constantly in play near the Gaels' goal, Micu tallied 16 saves, but her hesitation in goal and ineffective punting showed her inexperience.
"I think what happens with [Micu] a lot is that she gets really nervous and second guesses herself," Calderon said. "As a goalie, obviously you don't have time to think, you just react, and that's something she doesn't have yet.
"It's a work in progress, but we'll get there."
Alverno stretched its lead to 4-0 in the first five minutes of the second half on a header by Jessica Capra, followed by a Halverson penalty kick two minutes later.
GABRIEL RIZK covers sports. He can be reached at (818) 637-3226 or by e-mail at gabriel.rizk@latimes.com.
