BOX SCORE

SAN RAFAEL, Calif-  Bree Robles scored the equalizer early in the second half, but the Dominican Penguins jumped right back in front a few minutes later, edging Sonoma State 2-1 in the season opener for both sides.  The loss puts a damper on the debut of new head coach Emiria Salzmann as the Seawolves go to 0-1-0 on the young season.

On the stat sheet, it looked like a promising first half as the Seawolves led the Penguins in shots, 5-2. However, Dominican's second shot of the opening period by Julianna Bratsberg found the net at 37:23 and the hosts took the 1-0 lead into the intermission.

At the start of the second half, both teams traded a shot on goal before Robles fired a shot from 25 yards out that beat Dominican keeper Megan Herring to the net. It knotted the game at 1-1 with 38 minutes left, but the deadlock didn't last long. Just over seven minutes later in the 60th minute, Shayna Elkins put the Penguins up 2-1, thanks to a couple of assists by Alex Moran and Bratsberg, the match's first scorer.

From then on, it was a back and forth battle. Sonoma State had two final chances in the last nine minutes -- a shot on goal by Sara Studer and a blast that sailed high off the foot of Macy Usher -- but the score would hold and the Penguins held on for the victory.

The shot attempts somewhat evened out in the second half (Dominican led 5-4), but the Seawolves held the 9-7 advantage in that category for the match. SSU netminder Alexis Sciacqua made two saves, while her counterpart, Herring, made four saves. Ashley Martin and Megan Cunningham each had two shots to lead the Seawolves attack.

Sonoma State will look to rebound on Saturday when it hosts Central Washington in another non-conference matchup. The Seawolves and Wildcats will kick off at 1 p.m. at the Seawolf Soccer Field.