The season opened up on a sour note for the Sacramento State women’s soccer team Sunday. Despite losing the game 2-0 it was the Hornets who dominated the ball offensively and had numerous chances to win the game.

The best opportunity for the Hornets to score came in the 31st minute when freshman forward Kim Kemper got a shot off which was just barely deflected by Wolf Pack goalie Caitlin Holmes. The ball continued toward the goal, spinning tantalizingly close to going in the left corner before hitting the left post and bouncing out.

“It killed me,” said Kemper when asked what it was like to watch her first collegiate goal spin off the bar. “We just couldn’t finish plays.”

Five minutes later Nevada forward Karen Zmirak lofted a shot from the left side that stayed in the air for what seemed like an eternity before falling just inches over the out-stretched hand of 5-foot-4 goalie Jenny Lawrence. After five more minutes it was Zmirak again with an eerily similar shot from the left that again nearly tickled Lawrence’s fingers on its way into the net.

In the second half Sac State dominated throughout, taking 10 shots to Nevada’s two in the half. Kemper was especially busy, getting chance after chance in the second half without success.

Junior forward Katie McCoy ran wild for the Hornets, doing seemingly anything she wanted, but no goals came. “We just weren’t in the right place at the right time,” said McCoy. McCoy recorded three shots in the contest.

Sac State out-shot Nevada 14 to four in the game and the defense was impressive save for the two goals. Freshman midfielder Katie Rorabaugh was especially busy during the game, breaking up several Nevada possessions. “We tried to keep the pressure on (Nevada) and we were really organized on defense,” Rorabaugh said.

Hornets head coach Katie Poynter was upset with the result, but not the effort. “I think we just had some first game jitters,” Poynter said. “We just need to get some confidence and we didn’t have that today.”

Despite not cashing in on any of the opportunities, Poynter took a lot of positives from the offensive play on the day. “The good news is that we created chances, we just couldn’t finish them.”

Poynter said that it could be a battle this season between the veterans and the talented freshman class that has come in. Along with Kemper and Rorabaugh, freshman goalie Mandy Trojan played the second half, recording Sac State’s only save of the day. Last season Jenny Lawrence played every minute as the team’s only goalie on the roster.

Sac State continues its three game home stand Tuesday against Saint Mary’s at 3 p.m. and will host Causeway-rival UC Davis on Sept. 3 at noon.