The OU soccer team lost their home opener 3-1 to the Central Michigan Chippewas, falling to 0-2 on the season.

Coach Nicole Nelson started only one senior, defender Katie Corbitt, while the rest of the starting lineup consisted of four freshmen and six sophomores.

The Sooners got off on the right foot when sophomore forward Whitney Palmer set off the fireworks as she put the team’s first goal on net past CMU’s goalie at the 29:29 mark of the first half. The Plano, Texas, native got away from the Chippewas’ defenders with a series of good passing from forward Sage Coralli and midfielder Kelsey Allison who were credited with the double assist.

Palmer was the Sooner’s leading scorer during the 2007 season and it only took two games into the 2008 season to score her first goal.

In the first half, goalie Lisa Jett was solid in between the pipes as she made all four of her save opportunities.

At the beginning of the second half, sophomore defender Claire West bailed Jett out by kicking away a slow shot in traffic which got by her which would have tied up the game.

But, at the 29 minute of the second half, CMU got on the board when forward Amanda Waugh made a hustle play where she outfought Jett for the ball.

The Chippewas took the lead less than two minutes later as forward Stephanie Martin scored her second goal of the season off a penalty kick which was created from a second yellow card.

The Sooner’s second yellow forced them to play a player down, creating problems in their backfield.

“It’s tough to play a man down,” Nelson said. “I think it was a tremendous effort to play with ten and to take as many opportunities as we did.

CMU’s Molly Gerst added some extra insurance by scoring on a one-timer with just seven minutes left to cap off the game’s scoring.

“We made very young mistakes tonight,” Nelson said. “We have to keep getting better but those mistakes are young mistakes. But you have freshmen and sophomores making freshmen and sophomore mistakes.”

The first game in front of OU fans was played in front of 465 people.

OU will be back in action at John Crain Field Sunday at 1 p.m. against the Ball State Cardinals.