He didn't put in enough effort but he blamed it on bad luck.
She didn't try hard enough but she blamed her failure on bad luck.
「(A)を(B)のせいにする」は “blame (a) on (b)” であっています。例えば “He blamed the poor spectator turnout on the rain but actually his soccer team was rather unpopular.” (彼は観客の少なさを雨のせいにしましたが、実は彼のサッカーチームはあまり人気ではありませんでした。)