Austin junior Mooday Wah was back in his happy place and the Austin boys soccer team was back on its grind as it opened the regular season with a 4-1 win over St. Paul Como Park 4-1 in Art Has Stadium Saturday.

Wah, a junior, who missed the second half of last season with a broken leg, was back with a vengeance as he scored on a chip shot past the keeper seven minutes into the game to put Austin up 1-0 and he made it a 3-1 Austin lead when he drove in a shot across the grain off a touch pass from Kevin Ortiz with 24:15 left in the game.

“It was great to get out here. We’ve got some good chemistry,” Wah said. “Last year was pretty depressing for me when I broke my leg.”

Como Park (0-2 overall) had tied the game up at 1-1 when Kobby Owu scored with 19:29 left in the first half. Six minutes later, the game was put on a 30-minute lightning delay and that gave Austin some time to think and talk about which adjustments could be made. Austin head coach Jens Levisen said he trusted his squad to talk amongst themselves during the long break.

“I just let them talk and I didn’t give them any advice or anything,” Levisen said. “I didn’t want them to get too amped up. That was them and I let that conversation happen.”

The Packers (1-0 overall) came out with added intensity after their discussion as Ortiz drilled in a shot from 20 yards out to put Austin up 2-1 with 9:13 left in the half.

“[The break] was a good thing. Because we were talking about what were doing wrong in the locker room,” Ortiz said. “This team is really special and I feel like every year we say that, but this team is pretty special.”

Austin controlled the ball for much of the second half as it hammered out 17 shots on goal in the win. Lonyjera Okal iced the game when he connected on a 25-yard free kick that hooked past the keeper to make it 4-1 with 6:50 left.

Josh Brehmer had seven saves in net for Austin.

Levisen said he likes where his team is at, especially considering there are lot of new players mixing into the lineup.

“There’s lots of new guys, but the communication is good and they have a lot of trust for each other already,” Levisen said. “They’re talking on the field and they’re willing to use everybody. A lot of things are moving in the right direction.”