The Southern Oregon University soccer team will have three chances to get their first win this weekend in a mini-tour of Southern California that spans four days.

The first opportunity presents itself in the form of Vanguard University, which returns seven starters from a team that went 8-6-4 and held a No. 10 NAIA ranking last year, as the Raiders (0-1-0) will take on the Lions in Costa Mesa, Calif. at 7 p.m. Thursday.

After a day off on Friday, the Raiders will finish their trip with stops at Westmont College Saturday at 1 p.m. and Concordia University of Irvine at 2 p.m. Sunday. Both Westmont and Concordia landed on the NAIA preseason top-25 poll at the No. 13 and No. 22 positions, respectively.

Westmont ended in a 1-1 tie in their opener against presumptive Cascade Conference favorite Concordia (Ore.). Irvine coasted to a 5-0 romp of Viterbo University (Wisc.) behind two goals from freshman Siobhan McMorrow to kick off their season.

“This is a chance to test ourselves against three of the top programs in the country,” said SOU Head Coach Jon Clement. “It should be every athlete's goal to play against the best, so we're looking forward to a great weekend that will help us prepare for future Cascade Conference fixtures.”

The Raiders suffered a 3-1 setback in their first contest against Dominican University (Calif.) at University Field on Saturday. Southern Oregon looked sharp early on as sophomore Mo Costello (Seattle, Wash./Roosevelt) connected with freshman Denise Powell (Grants Pass, Ore./Hidden Valley) for the first goal of the game, but an own goal and two more second half goals proved plenty for Dominican to down the Raiders.

“Our start was great,” Clement said. “We just couldn't quite seem to put our foot down, but that's something that will come. We just need to connect our team vertically so there's more synergy between all three lines on the field.”

The Raiders will travel to George Fox Sept. 6 before returning home to face Holy Names (Calif.) for their final preseason tune-up Sept. 21.