Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — When Eric Luzzi looked at the scoreboard following Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference men's soccer game, he had to do a double-take.

And then shake his head in disbelief.

It wasn't that his Saint Mary's University men's soccer team had come out on the short end of a 2-0 decision, it was the fact that Luzzi couldn't believe how close his team actually was to ending its 19-game winless streak against the Scots.

"That final score doesn't even come close to telling the whole story," said Luzzi. "Take away the first two minutes of each half, and it's a 0-0 game — at the very least. Now add the fact that we had three unbelievable scoring chances — chances that should have resulted in goals — and we could very easily have won this game 2-0.

"It's a tough loss to take, but the effort we put forth makes it a little easier to swallow."

Macalester, which has not lost to the Cardinals since the Oct. 15, 1986 — and has now shut out SMU in each off the teams' last five meetings — wasted little time getting on the scoreboard Saturday. Joe Wertz broke free down the right side and feathered a pass to Michael Melamed, who redirected the pass into the wide open net.

"That was a tough goal, just because it came so early in the game and really took a little wind out of our sails," said Luzzi, whose team had not played since snapping its season-opening five-game winless streak with a 2-1 win over Carleton a week ago. "But instead of hanging on heads and feeling sorry for ourselves, we kept battling. We had a great scoring chance late (in the half) which would have really been a big boost heading into halftime."

As quickly as the Scots came out in the first half, they were equally as quick in the second, as Magnus Oppenheimer netted his team-leading fifth goal less than three minutes in to give Macalester a commanding 2-0 advantage.

"We made two costly mistakes, and it cost us two goals," said Luzzi, whose team had two golden opportunities in the second half, but both Mike Schmitt (Woodridge, Ill.) and Louie Lamanna (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) were robbed by Scots' goalkeeper Ryan Palmer. "(Palmer) made huge saves on both Mike and Louie — we score on one or both of those, and who knows what would have happened.

"It's a tough game to lose — but the guys played hard for 90 minutes, and as a coach, that's all you can ask for."