Game Summary

INDIANOLA, Iowa — Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach Tony Guinn had more than enough reasons to have a stomach full of butterflies heading into Thursday's nonconference game against Simpson.

Squaring off against a team that not only won 15 games en route to winning the Iowa Conference regular-season title, but also returned 10 of its 11 starters, it's not wonder Guinn's stomach was doing flip-flops.

With two minutes remaining in the first half, however, the Cardinals' Kendra Maloney (Green Bay, Wis.) provided Guinn with a little Pepto Bismal, netting the game's only goal on a 25-yard chip shot over the head of the Simpson goalkeeper, as SMU opened its season with a 1-0 victory.

"I'm elated right now," said Guinn, whose team held a 10-8 advantage in shots on goal — and got an eight-save shutout performance from Jennifer Johnson (Racine, Wis.) in winning its season-opener for the first time since a 2-0 victory over Viterbo on Sept. 2, 2001. "I was really worried coming into this game. In this day and age, you can go on the internet and find out anything you want about your opponents — coaches can't hide much — so I knew how good Simpson was.

"For us to come out and play the way we did, against a team that that went 15-5 and won its conference last year, is a great way to start the season," continued Guinn. "Everyone did a solid job, and we got outstanding play from a couple of freshmen — Emily Berg (Owatonna, Minn.) and Michele McQuillan (St. Paul, Minn.) — which was great to see.

"It's always nice to get your season off on the right foot, which is exactly what we did."