Travelling cross country to compete in the University of San Fransisco tournament, the Harvard women’s soccer team faced No. 19/20 California in the opening round. In its first game of the season, the Crimson fell short against the Golden Bears, losing 2-1.

California, who had already played four games this season, struck early against Harvard when Ifeoma Onumonu buried a ball from the top of the box in the third minute.

“We probably were on our heels a little bit,” senior Elizabeth Weisman said. “The first five minutes of the game is a big moment of the game.”

Harvard however, was able to come back and be aggressive, out-shooting California, 12-10.

Although the Crimson put shots on net, California struck next. In the 68th minute, the Golden Bears’ Celeste Boureille finished off a cross from Kaitlyn Fitzpatrick.

The two-goal lead would prove insurmountable for the Crimson.

“I felt like we had possession of the game for most of it, but they had the counter-attack on some plays,” Weisman said.

The possession time finally paid off with Crimson sophomore Lauren Varela coming off the bench to get Harvard on the scoreboard for the first time of the season, finishing off a rebound for a goal.

It was her fourth career goal. It was not enough though, as Harvard was only able to place one more shot on net the rest of the game.

Junior goalie Kanten Bethany had five saves on seven shots on goal for an 83 percent save percentage.

Although Harvard didn’t win, the young team was proud of its performance against a ranked opponent, especially one of such size.

California, a school of over 25,000 undergraduates, is nearly four times the size of Harvard.

“I think a lot of times we and other people see Harvard in a different kind of light as other big schools and we need to consider ourselves like them,” Weisman said. “I think we come out a little bit timid.”

The size discrepancy mattered less to others, including coach Ray Leone, who believed the major difference was the Crimson’s later starting date to the season, which led to less practice time for Harvard.

“The only difference right now is that they’ve been training longer than us, so it took more time to get acclimated to the speed of play,” Leone said.