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AVE MARIA — The results of Ave Maria University's first soccer games on home soil probably didn't surprise anyone. What could have raised some eyebrows, however, is how well both teams played at times given their relative lack of preparation.

After spending less than two weeks together as teams, the Ave Maria men lost 2-0 while the women fell 7-0 to Warner Southern at the fields of North Park on Monday afternoon. While the men gave a spirited effort throughout their entire match, the women held their own in the first half before giving way to the hot weather and a multitude of injuries in the second.

The men allowed a goal in each half, but the pace of the game was the real story. Ave Maria, with limited time to get into game shape for the season, largely matched Warner step-for-step and was paced by the efforts of Golden Gate grads Damian Coliqueo and Carlos Fuentes. Coliqueo, Golden Gate's all-time leading goal scorer, didn't make an impact in the first half, but after Marc Jeanty put the Royals on the board just before halftime, the Gyrenes came back in the second half with a barrage of counter-attacks designed to get Coliqueo the ball.

Though the striker didn't find the back of the net, he came close a few times, working well with fellow forward Colby Popik. Late in the second half, Popik threaded a cross past the face of the goal to Coliqueo, who was waiting at the far post for a header, but the ball just missed the mark wide. Minutes prior to that, Coliqueo nearly logged an assist, dropping in a volley to Popik that was scooped up at the last second by Warner goalie Robert Highly. Coliqueo left the game in the second half after being yellow-carded for pushing a Warner defender he thought intentionally fouled him in the box.

"I need to talk to our players about things like that -- it's important not to confuse playing with heart with playing with too much attitude," men's coach Luis Santos-Zanelli said. "Guys like (Fuentes and Coliqueo) really mean a lot to this team and they did a great job in high school, and I think they really bring that Spanish fire here with them."

While Coliqueo's day may have finished with frustration, Fuentes seemed to step in cleanly at the stopper position on defense and did well keeping the Gyrenes' defensive backline fairly organized. With the exceptions of Warner's scoring plays, Ave Maria's defense played soundly enough to keep the ball in the midfield for most of the game. Still, even with the solid showings from the homegrown talent, Santos-Zanelli wants to have a better look at the rest of his team before he commits to naming Fuentes and Coliqueo mainstays in the lineup.

"I think we need to work more on the system and covering our spaces better," he said. "We are still building a team here, and we'll decide in practice who will continue to play where -- that's where those decisions are made."

As playing well and coming up short in the end is a bitter feeling, the women's result was a completely different kind of disheartening.

While both Warner and Ave Maria both seemed rusty to begin with, the Gyrenes had a pretty good excuse: Three of the players that saw significant action on the field had never played soccer before this season. Of the 19 players listed on the team's roster, only 14 dressed for the game and the numbers may be even smaller for the team's next game after center defender Mary Tuggle left the game late with an apparent ankle sprain.

"Obviously, we need to work on our fitness and we've had less than a week to learn how we all play," women's coach Julie Cosden said. "We had some injuries in the game, but most of the players that went down were more due to cramps than anything else and that will get better the more we train together."

In spite of what the score implies, the most impressive unit of the women's lineup appeared to be the defense. Warner capitalized on Ave Maria's lack of offensive prowess by keeping the ball in the Gyrenes' defensive third of the field for virtually all of the second half, scoring immediately after halftime on a goal by Mallory Kelley, and shortly thereafter when a cross from the wing brushed over Morgan Bromley's head and off Jackie Sonricker's foot just inside the far-post.

"You always want to see your team do well, but I think this game was a lot better than when we played Warner last year and lost 8-0," Cosden said. "The biggest thing is we just need to increase our knowledge of the game and learn to apply it, then maybe we can get a couple of wins."

Last season both teams played games on a club level, and retained players from both. Ave Maria is associated with the NAIA, but is not yet eligible to join a conference or participate in the postseason.