The Cosumnes River College men’s soccer team lost to Lassen Community College on Aug. 31.

After tying in a game against William Jessup University on Aug. 27, the Hawks lost to Lassen 0-2.

“We didn’t play to our strengths in the first half,” said Ron Preble, the team’s head coach. “We just came up short. We got away with mistakes on defense.”

Starting the game on schedule, the team immediately went for shots on the goal. Aggressive headers and great communication echoed through the field between players.

With a slow start and goalie Gustavo Mejia carded in the first half, the team came back full force. Team captain Fernando Meza described their urge to get back into the game as “a fierce hunger.”

“We had a challenge connecting the ball well,” Meza said. “We played a lot on our left side when we should have worked both sides of the field.”

The loss of goalie Mejia gave the team a disadvantage of having a man down. Nonetheless the Hawks drove the ball close to the goal over and over. Preble said that the team was more dangerous with 10 men than with 11.

“They had to buckle down, had to mentally become simpler and have better focus to work the game to their advantage,” Preble said.

The closer the ball got to Lassen’s goal, the stronger the Hawks came back after each set up.

“Being down 2-0 made us think faster after the half,” said Armando Avila, the team’s co-captain.

Despite the loss, Preble’s outlook for the season remained positive.

“The ultimate goal, for any team, is to make it to the final four,” he said.