After last season’s disappointing finish, there is nothing in the world that the two Gator captains, striker Dylan Glass and midfielder Wesley Whitt, wanted more than to start off the season on the right foot.

Both captains got their wish as the SF State men’s soccer team launched the season with a 3-2 overtime victory against Dominican University on Thursday.

“We had a little first-game jitters. We still have a little bit to go before we’re at the level we need to be at,” Glass said. “But I think it was a good starting point.”

This deadly combination of juniors Glass and Whitt didn’t become lethal overnight as they have been playing with each other since they came in as freshman. In the three years both have built their rapport to the point where they know what the other will do on the field.

“I basically know what he’s going to do all the time. I mean, we don’t talk and finish each other sentences or anything like that, but on the field we know how each other plays fairly well. It definitely shows on the field,” said Glass of their chemistry on the pitch.

Both began at SF State at different positions. Glass played as an outside midfielder and Whitt at forward before moving to their current positions.

Whitt moved to midfield and he responded using his intense demeanor and hard working attitude to win balls from opponents before setting teammates up, especially his favorite target, Glass.

“I do all the scraping and he cleans up the mess. He’s always the first one I look for to come through. It’s been that way since we started as freshmen,” Whitt said.

Glass turned into a lethal striker with the ability to position himself in the exact spot needed to boot the ball through the net.

“Wes knows you have to get the ball to Dylan in the correct way. Dylan is more of a classic type of striker. Within 12-16 yards he is pretty lethal,” said coach Joe Hunter.

With two of the Gators’ All-California Collegiate Athletic Association team members on the sideline for last season’s final game, the team finished on a five-game losing streak ending any chance they had of making the postseason.

This year with a clean bill of health, Glass and Whitt are preparing to take more of a leadership role with this young team. But both SF State standouts know that even though the team has more talent than last year, it will be a learning process.

According to Hunter, Whitt and Glass bring different qualities to the table that work well together and that is why both were named as team captains along with keeper Israel Cisneros.

“Both have different personalities. Dylan is the consummate striker; very critical of himself, holds himself to a higher standard, but he’s more casual and laid back, while Wes is just a pit-bull. He’s strong, a hard-worker and will push his teammates to get better,” Hunter said. “They’re a nice combination to have as leaders.”

Both players left off where they started last year before injuries forced them out of the final six games of last season.

Glass, last year’s top goal scorer, recorded two goals in the victory at Dominican, including the golden goal in the second overtime. Mean while Whitt assisted on a goal by forward Charles Conway for the first goal of the game.

Despite a near collapse by the team after allowing a goal in the final 40 seconds, Hunter was pleasantly surprised to see how his team responded going into overtime.

“They had a lot of fight. Guys were energized and enthusiastic about to get into the overtime and we were able to get the goal,” Hunter said. “At this level, anytime you can get a ‘W’ we’ll take it.”

Dominican took the lead off a goal by Ryan Vella with 19:00 left in the first half.

Early in the second half, the Gators answered in the 48th minute when Conway connected on a 25-foot free kick by Whitt to tie the score at 1-1.

Glass gave the purple and gold the lead in the 68th minute on a ball off the post by Ali Elkandi to take a 2-1 lead.

With the game seemingly in hand for the Gators, Dominican’s Vella booted in his second goal in the final minute of regulation to push the game into overtime.

“We showed our youth a little bit giving up the second goal, not recognizing the time and situation of the game, but I think we’re the better team,” said assistant coach Kelly Coffey.

After the first overtime went scoreless Glass kicked in the game-winning goal off a throw in from Conway with less than 4:00 left in the second overtime.

According to the First National Soccer Coaches Association of America, the Gators are ranked eighth in the Adidas NCAA Division II Men’s Soccer Regional Rankings of the 2008 season.

The Gators are off until Sept. 5, when they travel to Bridgeport, Conn. to face Briarcliffe, N.Y.