Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — For the majority of Friday's nonconference game against Loras, the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team dominated every facet of the game.
Every facet, that is, except goals.
Despite outshooting the visiting Duhawks 8-6, it was Loras that made the most of its shots on goal, scoring a pair of first-half goals en route to a 2-0 victory at Ochrymowycz Field.
"It was a tough loss because I thought we controlled the play for the most part," said SMU coach Eric Luzzi, whose team is now stuck in the midst of a three-game season-opening losing streak. "We outshot them, I thought we had just as many good scoring opportunties, they were just more opportunistic than we were."
The Duhawks first goal was one of those opportunistic times. Dan Johnson fired a shot that got past SMU goalkeeper Bob Endemann (Woodridge, Ill.), but defender Mark Matyas (DePere, Wis.) was able to clear the ball before it crossed the goalline. The problem was, Matyas' clearing pass went right to Jed Beyer, who scored from 14 yards out on a shot into the lower left-hand corner.
Loras (4-0-0 overall) made it 2-0 just before halftime as Tony Stehn took a pass from Jeff Stevenson and lasered a one-timer past Endemann.
"That second goal really took a lot of wind out of our sails," said Luzzi, noting that Loras had a goal waved off on an offside just a minute earlier, only to come back and score immediately after. "We dodged one bullet — we got a break (on the offsides call), but we didn't take advantage. So instead of going into the break down 1-0, we're down 2-0 — and against a team as good as Loras, it's pretty tough to come back from two goals down."
SMU certainly tried, only to have Loras goalie Nick Murray thwart every chance they got. Murray stopped all eight shots he faced including a diving stop on a shot by Andrew Dolan (Glenview, Ill.) with less than five minutes remaining in regulation.
"You have to give Loras a lot of credit, they are a very good team — one that could very well make it to the NCAAs," said Luzzi. "I wouldn't say this was our best performance ever, but we played well. Now if we could just give that type of effort for 90 minutes."
