Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's soccer coach Eric Luzzi was a bit concerned heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Concordia — and it had nothing to do with the fact that the Cardinals were coming off a heartbreaking 1-0 loss to No. 8-ranked Gustavus last Wednesday.

It had everything to do with the fact that Concordia entered Saturday's game winless in three conference games.

And while the Cobbers proved Luzzi's concerns to be valid to a point — "they are a very good team," Luzzi would say afterwards — the Cardinals proved their coach's concerns to be nothing more than a bad case of pregame jitters as SMU scored the game's only goal 33 minutes into the first half en route to a 1-0 victory.

"I wasn't quite sure what to expect from our guys after what happened last Wednesday, and the fact that Concordia was coming in here without a conference win," admitted Luzzi. "I was a little concerned we might be flat, or we might be a little overconfident."

They were neither.

The Cardinals dominated played in the first half, attempting 12 shots, six of which hit the net, while Concordia managed just three — all of which SMU goalie Bob Endemann (Woodridge, Ill.) handled with ease.

SMU finally broke through at the 33:07 mark as Mike Boland (Lake Zurich, Ill.) took a feed from Brian Reddish (Crystal Lake, Ill.) and beat Concordia goalie Kris Overby for his team-leading ninth goal of the game.

"That was a big win for us," said Luzzi, whose team improved to 3-1-1 in the conference and 4-4-2 overall with the win. "Any win in the conference is a big win, but we needed an outstanding effort to beat these guys. Concordia is a much better team than their 0-4 (MIAC) record.

"This game was pretty typical of the way we've been playing lately — get on the board first and then keep the pressure on," Luzzi continued. "Maybe it's a sign that we are growing up a little, but early in the season, we'd score first and we'd always seem to relax and let our opponent take the game away from us.

"We haven't been doing that – we grabbed control of the momentum with Michael's goal, and we never gave it back."