ROCKLIN, Calif. - After a long and hot summer away from the field, the Jessup men's soccer team returned to action in their season opener Saturday morning against Oregon Tech.

While the Warriors showed great resolve in the second half erasing a 2-0 deficit in less than 15 minutes of play, it was a goal in the 81st minute by the Owls that proved to be the difference.

Warriors' coach Greg Lazaga said the match was simply a tale of two halves as the Warriors outscored OIT 2-1 in the final 45 minutes, but a slow start put them in catch-up mode most of the morning.

"I thought it took our new group 20 minutes to find some type of quality rhythm on the field from the opening whistle.  We came out slow instead of finding a way to force our tempo and our style of play."

The match started quickly for OIT as they scored the opening goal in the matches' eighth minute. The Warriors defense settled in for the ensuing 30 minutes before giving up another goal in the 39th minute as the Owls took a 2-0 lead.

By halftime, both teams had played a relatively even match outside of the games only two goals with both teams tallying eight shots and combining for 13 shots on goal.

Coming out of halftime, the Warriors knew they needed a huge comeback to have a chance to win their home opener and that's exactly what they did as Nick Tucker and Ioan Muresan scored their first goals of the year in the 56th and 68th minutes.

"Movement increased and we started to compete and find good pockets of space and two goals were the result. I think spending the energy to tie the match caught up with us in the last 15 minutes of play when we gave up the winning goal. "

While the Warriors eventually lost the match they'll look forward to another great opportunity to grab their first win of the season at the University of Antelope Valley Thursday at 4 pm.

"It's unfortunate but we are looking at the game as a building block for our next opponent," Lazaga concluded, "Hoping we come out with fire at the onset of the match next time."