BOX SCORE

SEASIDE, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay women's soccer team looked as dangerous as it has in quite some time, but a pair of defensive miscues and one cracking strike from Notre Dame de Namur led the Argonauts to a come from behind 3–2 win over the Otters Thursday in the season opener for both sides at the Otter Sports Complex.

After a first half in which Otter goalkeeper Lily Garza (Redwood City/CC of San Francisco) and her Argonaut opposite Abigail Cebrero each needed to make one spectacular stop to keep the match scoreless, CSUMB got on the board just after the restart. The junior strikeforce of Kristen Womack (Roseville/Woodcreek HS) and Regan Porteous (Lodi/St. Mary's HS) countered off the only NDNU corner of the day to create the first score.

Womack advanced the ball down the right flank and found Porteous with a defender 30 yards from goal. Porteous took the feed and left her defender flat footed, creating a 1v1 that Cebrero had little chance of stopping.

Less than 10 minutes later, the Otters doubled their advantage. This time, Porteous played the role of helper, feeding a long pass that found 2013 leading scorer Jamie Murray (Newbury Park/CC of San Francisco) alone in the Argonaut penalty area. Murray's sure finish gave the Otters what appeared to be a stranglehold on the game at 2–0.

But thoughts of an Otter rout quickly faded when Monica Barrios answered Murray's goal by scoring from the top of the box just 27 seconds later to halve the CSUMB lead. Less than three minute after that, Bianca Lemus hit a vicious ball into the upper right vee that Tim Howard would have struggled to save.

With the match now level, NDNU took advantage of some sloppy play along the Otter back line to score the match winner. This time, Barrios found space down the right wing and sent a low cross across the CSUMB goal mouth. The Otter defense missed a chance to clear and the ball found the feet of Massiel Castellanos, who tapped home from the far post to close the scoreline with 20 minutes remaining.

As they had for the majority of the match, the Otters reestablished territorial control following the third NDNU goal, but this time they couldn't translate that advantage into a tying goal. CSUMB finished the day with a 12–7 edge in shots and a 7–1 edge in corner kicks.

The Otters will get another chance at their first win of 2014 Saturday when they host Central Washington University at 2 p.m. It will be the nightcap of men's/women's doubleheader action. The Otter men host Northwest Nazarene at 11 a.m.