For SF State head coach Joe Hunter said the biggest thing this past weekend was not whether the Gators won or lost, but how his young team bonded on their cross-country road trip to Connecticut.

“It was a good experience. You do these trips every once in a while to bring your team together,” Hunter said. “Like we told the guys ‘we think it pay dividends for them down the road as they’ll be able to draw on that experience.”

Captain Wes Whitt also believes the trip was more important for what it will do for the chemistry of the team in the future than for their record.

“It’s a huge bonding experience. That’s all you see for the next five days,” Whitt said. “You lose together and you win together. It’s all about growing.”

The SF State men’s soccer team finished with a 1-1 record at the University of Bridgeport Soccer Classic over the weekend to bring its season record to 2-1.

Despite the long road trip on Thursday, the Gators came out ready for their game Friday and dominated Briarcliffe College of New York 2-0.

According to Hunter, being that it was their first game of the season Braircliffe came out “a little undisciplined” and the Gators could have “beat them by two or three more goals easily”.

Two freshmen, Roberto Escobar and Antonio Ugarte, led the attack each scoring their first goal of their respective collegiate careers.

After a scoreless first half in which SF State outshot Braircliffe seven to three, Escobar broke the 0-0 tie 69 seconds into the second half on a long run in which he split two defenders and booted it into the back of the net.

Whitt connected with Ugarte on a cross in the 82nd minute to give Whitt his 10th career assist and the Gators a 2-0 lead, which was enough for the victory.

On Sunday, SF State lost its first game of the season to the host of the weekend tourney University of Bridgeport 2-0 even though both teams finished with 10 shots.

Hunter thought the statistics didn’t tell the story of the game after Bridgeport got a “soft” goal when the Gators failed to clear a ball in the box and the Purple Knights came through for the first goal of the game.

“In soccer sometimes the novice doesn’t see where you could lose a game like that, but it’s like in baseball it could be just one swing of the bat,” Hunter said.

In the second half, SF State came out with revenge on the mind as the Gators spent the first 20 minutes of the half in Bridgeport’s end of the field, but couldn’t capitalize.

Bridgeport countered with a goal in the 64th minute to put the game away, however, captain Dylan Glass agreed with Hunter’s assessment that this tournament can be used as a learning experience.

“We played well, but they got the second (goal) and we couldn’t come back,” Glass said. “But I think we learned a lot and grew a lot after this game.”

The Gators returned to the field this past Tuesday for their home opener against Seattle Pacific University finishing in a 1-1 tie after double overtime.