The conference opener is an important game, no matter which sport you are playing.

The Cosumnes River College’s men’s soccer team started the Big 8 Conference competition when they hosted Santa Rosa Junior College on Tuesday.

During the first half Santa Rosa dominated the ball, with SRJC sophomore defender Nicholas Rogers scoring a goal within the first fifteen minutes of the game.

“We were pretty fortunate to get an early goal,” said SRJC head coach Marty Kinahan.

The rest of the first half consisted of players chasing the ball, with a couple of close calls, but left the score at 1-0 in favor of the Bear Cubs.

“They outplayed us in the second half,” Kinahan said. “They have a nice team, they played the ball back.”

Some call it fortune, others call it luck. Either way you look at it, a goal is a goal.

“Unfortunately, they hit a lucky goal,” said CRC head coach Ron Preble. “Sometimes soccer can be very cruel that way.”

Preble said he asks his players to do three things, in an effort to “get results”: have high energy, play with their team style and have a commitment to defending.

“Our energy level was good in both phases of the game,” Preble said. “I thought every player was solid today, we didn’t have a lot of ups and downs with our players.”

The Hawks were unable to come up with a goal of their own, with the final score remaining at 1-0.

“The ball didn’t go in for us but overall we did a great job,” said Eliezer Ramos, a sophomore midfielder.

Some of the team members were slightly discouraged by the loss and emotions were a little high right after the match.

“I feel kind of upset,” said freshman midfielder Ander Saez. “We possessed the ball more than them.”

Preble was more optimistic about the game in general and his players’ performance.

“This was probably the best performance on the year,” Preble said. “I thought we were actually very, very good today.”

Kinahan shared some of Preble’s sentiments about CRC’s players and their work on the field.

“It was a pretty even match,” Kinahan said. “They had some nice players.”

Moving forward and having an optimistic attitude was a common theme for the Hawks.

“We just have to come back stronger and beat them at their house,” Ramos said.