Alle Petty of Clackamas pushes in front of Southwestern’s Chelsea Hager and kicks the ball away from the Laker during the second half of their match at Southwestern Oregon Community College on Wednesday. World Photo by Lou Sennick.

COOS BAY — Shaun Kohn encouraged the players on his women’s soccer team at Southwestern Oregon Community College to keep their chins up.

The Lakers lost for the first time on their artificial turf, dropping a 2-0 decision to Clackamas in the two schools’ NWAACC opener on a breezy morning at Southwestern.

“We lost to a good team, but there’s 17 more (league) games and we play them again,” Kohn said of his post-game discussion with the team.

Clackamas scored two goals while playing into the wind in the second half and Southwestern never managed many opportunities against the quick Cougars.

Clackamas goalkeeper Georgie Christensen only faced four shots — two off free kicks following penalties far from the goal — and only had to make one save on a shot on goal.

The Lakers only had one corner kick all day, and Christensen was able to catch that ball in traffic before any Southwestern player could get a foot on it.

Clackamas coach Tracy Nelson was pleased with the play of her defense.

“Always getting a shutout is a good thing,” she said.

On the other hand, Nelson was disappointed with her team’s offensive attack in the first half, when the Cougars had the wind at their backs.

Clackamas did have control of the ball for most of the opening 45 minutes, and managed 14 shots. But many were off the mark and Laker goalie Kate Tuers saved three others.

The Cougars broke through in the second half. In the 62nd minute, Hayley Koch put the ball in the top of the net, past the outstretched arms of Tuers.

After Kohn brought Tuers into the midfield to improve his offense and put Anita Cary in goal, Clackamas got another score on a shot to the top of the net from the left wing by Kelly Lewis.

Nelson was relieved by the outcome.

“It’s very tough to win at SWOCC,” she said. “It’s always a challenge. We’re happy to get the win.”

The Lakers, meanwhile, hope to gain from the experience.

“We played hard,” said Chelsea Hager, one of just four sophomores on the roster. “We have some injured players. We’ll improve. We’ll definitely get better.”

“I think from an effort standpoint, we had great effort,” Kohn said, adding the team will try to use the match as a learning experience.

“We made some mistakes possessing the ball,” he said.

Hager was disappointed to lose for the first time on the FieldTurf pitch, which has been the school’s field for a little more than a season.

“That’s really frustrating,” she said.

The Lakers  hit the road Friday and Saturday for matches at Tacoma and Highline.