On Aug. 28, the San Diego City College Knights men’s soccer team lost their season opener 3-1 to the Long Beach Vikings here at City.

The Knights went into the game against the Vikings without having lost a home game in two years.

“As a coaching staff, we don’t accept losing. As a coaching staff, we go into every game with expectations to win,” said Milton Hildago, Knights head coach.

The Knights looked very sharp during the game but the Vikings beat them with perseverance and patience.

“We lacked mental toughness today. Long Beach was a very experienced and mature squad,” said Hildago.

Throughout the first half both teams had trouble  scoreing, both teams defensive squads kept the scores down.

“I thought we had a great first half. We played very fast, confident, and defended well,” said Hans Witzell, who has been Hildago’s top assistant for three years.

The Knights adjusted after halftime and came out and scored the first goal of the game within five minutes of second half start.  The Knights brief moment of control of the second half crumbled as the Vikings sense of urgency was struck.

The Knights became complacent and fell into a comfort zone. The style of play they had played with during the first half of the game faded as the game approached it’s final minutes.

The Vikings tied the game around the seven minute mark in the second-half.

“When the going got tough, we didn’t get it going,” said Hildago. “Mentally we were prepared. We just didn’t finish strong.”

The Knights would go on to give up two more goals within the last four minutes of the game and their two year home winning streak ended. The Knights fought hard. But the Vikings fought harder.

“We will learn from game one and continue to improve and get stronger and stronger as the season progresses,” said Witzell.

The Knights next home game will be against Pasadena Sept. 18 at 1 p.m.  Their first official conference game will at  Southwestern on Sept. 25.