Dixie State men's soccer team could not overcome an early deficit as the Storm dropped a physical 1-0 decision to Cal State San Marcos Sunday night at Hansen Stadium. The Storm fell to 1-1-0 on the young season, while the Cougars improved to 1-0-1.

The match's lone tally came in the 28^th minute as the Cougars put together a two-touch piece to set up a header attempt by Andrew Stalboerger, who tucked the ball away in the right corner of the goal from 12 yards out.

The Storm had a pair of quality scoring chances in the opening frame, the first coming on an Ethan Vandenbosch (Ogden, Utah/Bonneville HS) shot late in the 14^th minute, but Cougar netminder Landon Sherwood made the save to keep DSU off the board. Dixie State had another chance midway through the 37^th minute, but Sherwood turned away a Jorge Echavarria (Oakley, Calif./Alhambra HS) header attempt from inside the box.

Dixie State attempted four of its six shots for the match in the second half, including a free kick on frame by Santiago Alejandro (Oakley, Calif./Alhambra HS) late in the 46^th minute, but San Marcos reserve keeper Zach Sheppard made his only save of the stanza on the attempt to preserve the shut out.

The Cougars outshot DSU 9-6 for the match, though the Storm held a 3-2 edge on goal. Alejandro accounted for three of the Storm's six shots, while DSU keeper Bradley Trella (Chandler, Ariz./Chandler HS) finished with one save in a losing effort. Both teams combined for 47 fouls and six cards in the match.

"I thought Cal State San Marcos played very well, I don't think we did what we needed to do well," DSU Head Coach Josh Pittman said. "I thought our decision making and our skills tonight were not even close to being good enough. Our ability to win a first or second ball when it's crucial was not good enough and we weren't good enough on set pieces. You have to give a lot credit to Cal State San Marcos, they neutralized us and they really took it to us and deserved the win."

The Storm begins the road portion of their 2015 schedule next week as Dixie State makes a trip down to SoCal for two non-conference matches. DSU opens the trip with a match at Biola University on Saturday, Sept. 12, followed by a tilt at Cal Poly Pomona on Tuesday, Sept. 15.