San Diego FC’s season is no longer being couched with qualifiers. It’s no longer early. The club is still new, yes, but there’s a body of work to base things on. Saturday night’s 3-2 loss to the Colorado Rapids just outside Denver marked roughly the one-quarter mark of the team’s inaugural season. SDFC has played eight of its 34 regular-season matches. And while there’s still much to discover, this much we know: • The club battles when on the road; and • Rough starts continue to be a thorn in San Diego’s side. The Rapids (3-2-3) scored twice in a seven-minute span in Saturday’s second half to break a 1-1 tie and pull away. But it was a first-half penalty that put SDFC in a hole early. Goalkeeper CJ dos Santos was whistled inside his own box during a scrambling moment in the 34th minute. He dove to corral a loose ball, hitting Colorado’s Darren Yapi on the way down. The Rapids were awarded a free kick, which Djordje Mihailovic converted for a 1-0 lead. Saturday marked the fourth time in eight matches that SDFC (4-2-2) allowed its opponent to score first. Colorado outshot San Diego 11-1 in the first half; the Rapids had five shots on goal compared SDFC’s zero. But the club battled at the highest-elevation point in Major League Soccer, continuing to solidify a reputation as a plucky bunch. Luca de la Torre evened the match with a goal in the 49th minute, taking Hirving “Chucky” Lozano’s pass and lofting a shot into the top-right corner of the goal. Yapi broke the tie in the 53rd minute, punching in a goal following two headers coming off a set piece. Rafael Navarro gave the Rapids some breathing room with his goal in the 60th minute. Tomás Ángel scored his first goal as a member of SDFC in the 89th minute, but San Diego could get no closer during the six minute of extra time.