Although Northeastern A&M's  Golden Norsemen opened the soccer season Friday on the new synthetic turf of Robertson Field, coach John Parrigon's squad dropped a 1-0 decision to the Panthers of Neosho County Community College of Chanute, Kan.


The Golden Norsemen remain at home Sunday with a 4 p.m. match against the Red Devils of Allen Community College, Iola, Kan. The match will be played on the NEO grass pitch located in the southeast corner of the campus.
"We played an absolutely brilliant game for our first match on artificial turf," Parrigon said. "Not to take anything away from Neosho County because they are a very tough team, but sometimes in soccer the best team doesn't win and I think that's what happened here."
Neosho County broke the scoreless tie at the 63-minute mark as sophomore forward Octavio Vila slipped a shot past NEO freshman goalkeeper Mykeal Marshall of Moore.
"Mykeal did an excellent job in the net," Parrigon said. "This was a very hard fought match with a lot of speed and up and down the field play.
"Cole Shepherd of Joplin played a very solid game as the mid-defender," Parrigon said. "We also got great effort out of Jonner Carroll and Lee McNeil, both of Dublin, Ireland. Jonner moved the ball really well while Lee put a shot off the top of the crossbar that could have easily gone in the net.
"We're continuing to make strides as a team,"Parrigon said. "There are a lot of great things ahead of us."