Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Last Wednesday, scoring goals came so easy to the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team, as the Cardinals netted a school-record eight goals en route to an 8-4 nonconference win over Simpson.

Things weren't quite so easy for SMU on Saturday — in fact, scoring goals was downright impossible for the Cardinals as the Johnnies made a late first-half goal stand up in handing Saint Mary's a 1-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Ochrymowycz Field.

"It was a typical MIAC game — a hard-fought  battle from start to finish," said SMU coach Eric Luzzi, whose team saw its slim MIAC post-season tournament hopes dashed with the loss. "We didn't play all that poorly — I wouldn't say it was one of our best games of the year, but it wasn't one of our worst, either."

The Johnnies got on the board with just under 15 minutes remaining in the half as Joe Schmidt redirected a shot by Jimmy Haws past SMU goalkeeper Josh Simonson (Chanhassen, Minn.). The Cardinals nearly tied the game 10 minutes later, but SJU goalkeeper Eric Prawalsky made a diving save on a shot by the Cardinals' John Vik (St. Paul, Minn.) to keep SMU off the board.

"that was a big save," admitted Luzzi, whose team peppered Prawalsky with nine shots, but couldn't get one past the Johnnie junior. "We had some good opportunities, but we didn't create as many as I would have liked. Earlier in the year, we were creating a ton of chances, but getting nothing for it. Today, we didn't do that — we didn't give ourselves a lot of good scoring chances."

The loss drops the Cardinals to 3-5-1 in the MIAC and 4-10-1 overall, while St. John's moves to 5-2-1 in conference and 9-3-3 overall.