Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach Dan Blank was extremely concerned headed into Saturday's game against St. Benedict.
And with good reason.
The Blazers entered Saturday's MIAC contest with a perfect 6-0-2 conference mark, were unbeaten in their last nine games (7-0-2) — having outscoring their opponents 21-3 during that time — and needed to score a lot of goals if they hoped to keep pace in the race for the conference title.
The Cardinals, meanwhile, were in the midst of a 10-game losing streak in which they had surrendered 43 goals, while scoring just once.
In other words, it had all the makings of a rather unpleasant Saturday afternoon for Blank and his Cardinals.
Playing in their final home game, however, the Cardinals seemed to ease Blank's fears, as SMU stood toe-to-toe with the mighty Blazers for the game's opening 44 minutes.
In that 44th minute, however, the Blazers netted their first goal — and Blank's fears became a reality.
After managing just that lone first-half goal, St. Benedict erupted for five second-half goals en route to a 6-0 victory.
"We played a great, great first half," said Blank. "I think giving up that goal last in the half hurt us a bit, but we also just ran out of gas. Everyone was so pumped up — playing in their final home game and wanting to make it a memorable one for our four seniors. Unfortunately, we just couldn't keep that intensity up for the whole game, and the minute we let down, (St. Benedict) just took it to us."
Emily Kelsey picked up the Blazers' first two goals, the first with seven seconds remaining in the first half and the second 10 minutes into the second. Lisa Bennett made it 3-0 two minutes after Kelsey's second goal and Brittany Klang pushed the lead to 4-0 at the 64:11 mark. Taylor Hilker closed out the scoring, netting back-to-back goals eight minutes apart late in the second half.
"I was proud of the way we battled," said Blank, whose team fell to 0-9-0 in the MIAC and 1-15-0 overall. "They played hard the whole game and hung in there — we just couldn't sustain that high level of intensity."
It didn't help that Blank was playing with a thin bench due to injuries to regulars Katie Johnson (Elk River, Minn.), Anne Suddendorf (Excelsior, Minn.) and Courtney Gibson (Stillwater, Minn.).
"The injury bug is really hurting us right now," said Blank, whose team closes out its season with road games Wednesday at Hamline and Saturday at Bethel. "We finish the season with games against teams that I really think we can compete with. But if we don't get healthy, that task becomes that much more difficult."
