Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's soccer team turned in one of its best all-around efforts of the season Wednesday afternoon against UW-La Crosse.

It was nearly perfect.

Nearly.

The Cardinals made one mistake midway through the first half, and the Eagles made them pay, as Jenny Gellerman picked up a loose ball in the box and rifled a shot past SMU goalkeeper Nicole Bohn (Winona, Minn.) that lifted UW-L to a 1-0 victory at Ochrymowycz Field.

"We made one mistake, one mistake and it came back to haunt us," said SMU coach Dan Blank, whose team has now dropped two straight in falling to 1-4-0 overall. "What's really frustrating is that we were doing such a nice job of controlling the play, controlling the tempo of the game. We turn that ball over, and boom, (UW-La Crosse) capitalizes on it.

"I thought we played a pretty darn good game — but it's not a win, and for me and for this team, that hurts," Blank continued. "We had our chances, we just weren't able to break through."

The Cardinals had several excellent scoring opportunities, including point-blank tries by Maria Laudenbach (Long Lake, Minn.) in the first half and Eric Ruther (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) in the second, but Laudenbach's shot slipped just wide, and UW-L goalkeeper Stephanie Harbaugh trapped Ruther's blast to the pipe late in the second.

"We're seeing improvement, and right now, that's what we're looking for," Blank said. "A year ago, La Crosse totally dominated us (en route to a 5-0 win). This time around, it was a competitive game that easily could have gone either way."

Bohn deserves much of the credit for that.

The Cardinals' freshman keeper, making her second career start, stopped 14 UW-L shots, including eight in the second half.

"Nicole played great — she did was she had to do, and that was give us a chance to win," said Blank, whose team returns to action Saturday, traveling to UW-River Falls for a nonconference game. "We just couldn't give her the offensive support she deserved."