The Concordia College Alabama Hornets men’s soccer team opened up the regular season in dominating fashion on Friday, as it defeated Trinity Baptist College of Jacksonville, Fla. 8-0 at home.

Coaching his first game as head soccer coach of Concordia, Emmanuel Stephens said there’s always room for improvement, but the game served as good experience for his young team.

“I think, definitely, we can always get better. We took for granted the level of team we were playing, so my biggest thing is not to get too worked up over this win today,” Stephens said, “but, overall, a lot of people got some goals and, some of the freshmen, I think that helps them get off the mark and get comfortable with the college game. So this game played its purpose to get some of our freshmen comfortable that we’re going to be counting on because we’ve got a big class of freshmen.”

The Hornets got on the board early in the first half with a goal from Vincent Mitchell.

Later in the half, Concordia pushed its lead to 2-0 when Corey Marzett scored on a pass from Troy Bacchus.

Concordia added three more goals in the half from Leighton Richards, Bacchus and Ralph Coquemar to take a 5-0 lead into halftime.

Mitchell added two goals and Richards scored another in the second half for the Hornets.

Stephens said the game serves as a confidence booster for his team, and he’s hoping the winning trend continues on Sunday when the Hornets face off against Oakwood University at home on the Concorida College soccer fields starting at 4 p.m.

“I think it’s huge. Now we know what winning feels like and, hopefully, we keep that feeling going,” Stephens said. “I think Sunday is another game where we should be able to take care of some things and work on some things. For me as a coach, I saw a lot of things that we need to work on.”

Stephens added one thing he hopes to work on is communication on the field and he could see the team improve on that during Friday’s game.

“[We need to work on] Our possession, and just talking,” Stephens said. “The biggest thing is that they’re just trying to learn each other in a game situation. In practice, I’m able to dictate a lot of things that go on. In a game, it’s just free flow and they have to think on their own, so I think that’s the beauty of that — they’re starting to gel.”