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The SF State women’s soccer team won their first game of the season 2-1 over Montana State University Billings in their home debut at Cox Stadium on Thursday.

“We needed it,” said midfielder Kelsey Wetzstein. “We played hard last weekend but it just wasn’t our best, you saw a lot of heart out on the field today and that was really important to us.

The Gators had control of the game for most of the first half, outshooting the Yellowjackets 6-2 and taking an early 1-0 lead after a pass entry from Brittany Oldham hit one of the Yellowjacket defenders for an own goal in the 11th minute.

After being awarded a corner kick towards the end of the first half, Wetzstein picked up an assist in the 40th minute, connecting with Hannah Mikles for her first goal of the season.

“Coming off last weekend we all had a fire light lit inside of us,” said forward Autumn Fox. ”Today we had something to prove and I think we came out hard we did what we wanted to do.”

The Gators almost held on to their first shutout of the season right up until the 83rd minute when the Yellowjackets scored a goal that bounced off keeper Karin Nordin after a corner kick of their own.

Coach Hamm said that despite the win, she would like the team to convert more chances near the goal for a little bit more scoring punch.

“You can get punished by not scoring,” said Gators coach Tracy Hamm. “We need to just finish all the goal scoring opportunities that we created and execute.”

The Gators will get their chance soon when they return to the field Saturday Sept. 12 against Concordia University.