Henry Ellis received his first ever win as the new University of Colorado at Colorado Springs head men's soccer coach Saturday afternoon. The 2-1 win over the Newman Jets in the season opener is the start of a new tradition for the Mountain Lions.

"This is the first win this year for us; it's my first win as head coach, definitely excited about it," said Ellis. "I couldn't be more excited all the hard work, the blue collar work that we got to put in and it definitely showed this second half, the guys absolutely battled and it was definitely a battle."

Senior Jeff Bettner led the Mountain Lions in the midfield where he got the first goal six minutes into the first half.

After a Newman handball was called, Bettner was able to free kick it from 15 yards out into the left side of the net for the goal.

"It was a great win, everybody played well even with the wind everybody played together," said Bettner. "(We) moved the ball around real well, our backs stayed strong, everybody kept supporting each other, and we were lucky enough to get two goals."

The Jets came back late in the first half with 12:87 remaining when Pablo Molina passed the ball to Marshall Johnston who was able to kick it past UCCS goalie Adam Liszewski (1-0).

In the second half the Mountain Lions had to not only battle Newman, but also battle the wind.

"The wind was absolutely a major factor, the second half it turned in our faces," said Ellis. "We got outshot a little in the first half, but in the second half we turned around and actually recovered with the wind in our face. Again, the guys just worked hard and through it. They're just used to it because we get it all the time on this field."

The Mountain Lions were able to turn it around midway through the second half when Dami Oladiran had the ball and found Greg Miley open on the wing on the left side. Miley shot it past Newman goalie Emmanuel Gutierrez (0-1).

"I thought we played a lot better we had a lot of improvements we've made on the last game; we worked a couple things out," said Bettner. "We played strong, our outside mids ran all day and that's what I think was the key for us, we got them on the wing and they were able to put the ball in for us, and that opened up the field a little more for the middle."

With four freshmen starting, Liszewski stepped up to anchor the Mountain Lion defense with 11 saves.

"I think the backs did pretty well, we're doing an absolutely fantastic job on staying together as a unit, we're still young, still fresh being our first game a lot of new faces, a lot of young faces that started today and that got playing time," said Ellis. "Adam absolutely stepped up in the net today and absolutely had a fantastic, fantastic game and absolutely not just kept us in it, but definitely helped us get the 'w' today, so I'm excited about that."