Steamboat Springs — From a coach’s perspective, the Steamboat Springs High School boys soccer team got the best kind of lesson on Saturday in its season opening game: harsh, but not defeating.

The Sailors couldn’t hang on to a late-game two-goal lead playing at Glenwood Springs, but got an overtime strike from junior Cruz Archuleta to win, 5-4.

Now the team hopes to carry that lesson into Thursday night’s home opener, a 6:30 p.m. game against Moffat County.

“In opening games, there are going to be lots of lessons you can use throughout the season and we had a big one,” Steamboat coach Rob Bohlmann said. “The lesson was that we got too emotional on things that were out of our control.”

Archuleta’s winner was the cap on a stunning start to his season, his fourth goal in the game. Senior Jack Salyer added the fifth. Charlie Beurskens had two assists and Ethan Dyer and Will Beurskens had one each.

It will try to carry forward Saturday’s positive traits against the Bulldogs, who enter the game 1-0 after walloping Grand Junction Central, 4-1, Tuesday to open their season.

Moffat went 3-11-1 a year ago and lost their final game of the season to Steamboat, 2-0.

“It’s going to be a lot more interesting this year because both teams are riding in with a lot of momentum,” Bohlmann said. “They have a lot of speed. They’re quick to attack and play with a lot of tempo, so that’s something we’re certainly going to need to be concerned about.”

To reach Joel Reichenberger, call 970-871-4253, email jreichenberger@SteamboatToday.com or follow him on Twitter @JReich9