Last fall, the Hun School girls’ soccer team started the season with a 2-1 defeat to South Brunswick but hardly lost again, going 14-4-1 on the way to the state Prep A title.

Playing at Princeton Day School, the defending Prep B champs, on September 15 to open its 2015 campaign, Hun dropped a 2-1 nail-biter.

While Raider head coach Joanna Hallac was disappointed with the result, she was able to put it in perspective.

“We lost our first game last year and things worked out pretty well, I told the girls to keep their heads up,” said Hallac.

“It is hard when you come off a season like they did. You set the bar high, you go into every game expecting to win. We do go into every game expecting to win but we are not going to let it define us and bring us down; we are going to keep focus on our goals.”

In reflecting on the defeat, Hallac acknowledged that her team may have been a bit rusty.

“Although we had three scrimmages, I think in terms of the competition, we hadn’t faced competition like this and our last scrimmage was over a week ago,” said Hallac.

“We just weren’t game ready, maybe that is the best way to put it. We need to up our practices a little bit to make sure that we are doing everything we need to do to prepare. I felt like we were a step behind for most of the game.”

Although the Raiders fell behind PDS 1-0, they fought back as Abby Gray converted a feed from Kara Borden to make it a 1-1 game at halftime.

The Panthers regained the lead, going up 2-1 with 17:15 left in regulation. Hun responded by pushing forward and putting pressure on the PDS defense. While the Raiders didn’t find the back of the net again, Hallac had no qualms with the effort she got from her players.

“We had our chances on offense to put the game back in our favor,” said Hallac.

“I liked a lot of what I saw. There are definitely some areas that need improvement but I think we can take some positives away from today.”

The partnership between junior midfielder Gray and sophomore forward Borden was a clear positive for the Raiders.

“If we can get those two jelling and get Nicole Apuzzi and some of the others involved on the attack a little more, I think we will be in good shape,” said Hallac, whose team defeated Chatham 3-1 last Friday with Borden, Apuzzi, and Marleigh Nociti scoring goals.

“We need to get back to the drawing board and figure out where we need to shore some things up.”

Hallac is confident that Hun will figure things out and demonstrate championship form.

“We have the ability, we have the talent,” said Hallac, whose team plays at Oak Knoll on September 25 before hosting perennial power Pennington on September 29. “We have just got to get clicking on all cylinders.”