BELMONT, Calif. — The Cal State Monterey Bay men's soccer team began its 2017 campaign with an entertaining, albeit ultimately frustrating, 4–3 loss at Notre Dame de Namur University Thursday afternoon at Koret Field.

The Otters battled hard in their first match under new head Coach Shane Carew, forging one tie and pulling to within a goal on two other occasions. But they couldn't get over the home against an opportunistic Argonaut 11 that scored on four of its six shots on frame.

Freshman Adrian Rebollar (Watsonville HS) started his collegiate career in style with a goal via his first–ever shot to draw the Otters level at 1–1 eight minutes after the interval. But NDNU needed less than a minute to respond and doubled its advantage within eight minutes.

If the Argonauts thought they had taken the match by the scruff of the neck, they were mistaken. Freshman Steven Moreno (Lindsay HS) nodded home his first goal off a Christopher Leth (Lokken, Denmark) corner kick to draw CSUMB back to within 3–2 inside 10 minutes remaining.

Naia Graham responded with his second goal of the match three minutes later to once again put NDNU up by two. But Moreno gave the Otters life within a minute by tucking home the rebound of a Emmanuel Montion (Los Gatos HS/West Valley College) shot 96 seconds from time.
 

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THE GAME WAS OVER WHEN… Not until the final whistle blew as CSUMB kept the pressure on with a pair of late goals.

AND THE LITTLE ONES SHALL LEAD THEM… Freshmen set the tone for the Otters as a rookie had a hand in all three Otter goals. Freshmen Adrian Rebollar and Steven Moreno scored the first two while Moreno and fellow freshman Christopher Leth had helpers on the last two goals.

WELCOME TO THE RAFT… You couldn't tell the players without a scorecard Thursday as 14 of the 19 Otters who saw action were making their CSUMB debuts. Of the 11 starters, only senior goalkeeper Andrew Garcia and senior forward Cameron DeJong were returners.

FOR OPENERS… The last five Otter men's soccer season openers have been played against NDNU. The Otters are 3–2–0 in those matches.

STAT PACK… CSUMB SCORING: Adrian Rebollar (1) (52:39, Osvaldo Espinoza); Steven Moreno (1) (Christopher Leth); Emmanuel Montion (1) (88:24 (Steven Moreno). SHOTS: CSUMB 9, NDNU 11. SAVES: CSUMB 2 (Andrew Garcia); NDNU 6 (Javier Santana).

THE LAST WORD… "We played a very good Notre Dame team with, in my opinion, two top strikers and at times struggled against them. We showed great spirit coming back three times. We will build upon the negatives and continue with the positives." – CSUMB Head Coach Shane Carew

THEY'VE GOT NEXT… CSUMB returns to the friendly confines of the Otter Sports Complex for its 2017 home opener against Fresno Pacific University Saturday, Sept. 2. Kickoff is scheduled for 4 p.m.