Game Summary

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Last season, the University of St. Thomas' women's soccer team netted three goals in a nine-minute span to eventually declare a 4-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Saint Mary's University at Ochrymowycz Field.

This time around, the venue was different, but the outcome was eerily the same, as St. Thomas scored three goals in a seven-minute span — one to end the first half and two more to start the second — in handing the Cardinals a 4-2 setback.

"It was such an even game," said SMU coach Tony Guinn, whose team has now lost two straight. "We scored first (on a St. Thomas own goal), then took the lead again (2-1), but St. Thomas got a good goal late in the half which really took the win out of our sails.

"Instead of going into the locker room leading, we were tied, and that shifted the momentum over to St. Thomas."

St. Thomas (5-4 MIAC, 7-7 overall) put the Cardinals (2-5, 5-8-1) on the scoreboard first, accidentally scoring a goal in its own net 15 minutes into the first half, as a St. Thomas player defected an Amy Cory (Crystal Lake, Ill.) into the UST net. But the Tommies bounced right back, scoring a goal on the proper net seven minutes later.

Cory got her team-leading 12th goal of the season minutes later, but UST again bounced back, as Mary Dienhart scored the first of her two goals with less than five minutes remaining in the half to pull the Tommies even.

"We had the wind in the first half and we wanted to take advantage of that," explained Guinn, noting that the game was played in bitter cold and a gusting wind. "If we could have gotten into halftime ahead, I think we would have been able to hold them off in the second half and maybe escape with a win. But that late goal really hurt."

St. Thomas took the lead for good just two minutes into the second half, and Dienhart scored her second of the game a minute later as the Tommies evened their overall record at 7-7/

"It's a tough loss," said Guinn, whose team returns home for games against St. Olaf (Tuesday) and St. Benedict (Saturday) this week. "It will be nice to get back on our home field. We play well at home (three of SMU's five wins have come at home) and hopefully we will be able to get things back on the right track."