Saturday afternoon the Barclay College Bears soccer team traveled to Dallas Christian College in Dallas, Texas for their 2015 season opener. The last time the two teams went head-to-head was in the 2014 NCCAA Division II Southwest Region championship game held in Haviland, KS. The Crusaders were forced to watch the Bears celebrate the region championship and automatic birth to the national tournament.

It was a hot and humid day in Dallas at ninety seven degrees, which proved to be a huge factor in the game considering the Bears short-handed roster this season. The tough conditions combined with the Crusaders vary fast offense, proved to be a little too much for the Bears to handle. Dallas was able to move the ball up-field quickly to generate multiple scoring opportunities in the first 45 minutes. After a long first half, the Bears trailed just 2-0.

The Barclay College coaching staff, led by head coach Kevin Lee, made some key adjustments coming out of the half to generate some more offense for the Bears.  Unfortunately, they were unable to capitalize on those opportunities to score, and after a hard ninety minutes, the Bears came up short 4-0.

It seems as if the Bears (0-1, 0-0) best days are in the near future. With only a handful of returners from their 2014 national tournament squad, they feature plenty of youth and inexperience. They will improve drastically over the course of this season. Their next opportunity to do just that is at home on Friday night against Baptist Bible College (Springfield, Mo.). Game time is set for 7 p.m.