Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach Dan Blank was bound and determined to put last season behind him — out with the old, and in with the new was his motto heading into Friday's season-opener against Viterbo at SMU's Ochrymowycz Field.
Unfortunately, as much as Blank wanted to forget the offensive woes of 2002 — when the Cardinals managed just two goals all season — the new looked eerily similar to the old Wednesday, as SMU failed to net a goal in falling to the V-Hawks 3-0.
"I was a little disappointed, especially in that all three of their goals came off major mistakes on our part," said Blank. "You have to give Viterbo a lot of credit, they played a very aggressive style, they pressured us hard, and really outplayed us in the first half."
Despite SMU's domination of the game's first 10 minutes of the game, it was the V-Hawks who got on the board first, as Abbie Guilien launched a 35-yard bomb that sailed over SMU goalkeeper Dianna Kyllo's (Kasson, Minn.) head and under the crossbar to give Viterbo a 1-0 advantage.
"That first goal really hurt — we were playing so well early, it was just such a letdown that (Viterbo) was the one to score the first goal and not us," said Blank, whose team gave up another goal six minutes later, and fell behind 3-0 with less than a minute remaining in the opening half.
"We showed our inexperience a little in the first half," continued Blank, who started four freshmen. "We were trying to do too much ourselves and not using each other as much as we need to. I thought we played a much better second half and really created some good scoring opportunities."
Those opportunities, however, failed to result in any goals.
"I wouldn't say this was the start we were hoping for, but our performance certainly isn't anything to hang our heads about," said Blank, whose team returns to action Sunday when they play host to Benedictine University. "What we need more than anything is to get our offense on track — once we get that lid off, we're going to score a lot of goals."
