California State University, Stanislaus men’s soccer team stormed the field in their home opener and first game of the season Thursday night at Warrior Stadium & Al Brenda Track in the hopes of beating North Western Nazarene University.
Both teams came out firing on all cylinders after tying the previous year in Idaho, but North Western Nazarene struck first in the 23rd minute of the game to go up 1-0. Shortly after, in the 28th minute, North Western Nazarene struck again to take a 2-0 lead into the half.
In the fifty-seventh minute, both teams were fighting for the ball when one warrior went down, and a yellow card was issued to Nazarene. This sparked the high tension that followed throughout the game.
The Warriors, by the books, took 14 shots, had five corner kicks and one save as compared to Nazarene, who had taken six shots, had one corner kick and five saves.
“NNU was a really strong team, and we all knew that going in,” team captain Clinton Long (senior) said. “We out-shot and out-possessed them, but in the end that’s not what counts.”