Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — You would think that, being from Ireland, Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach Tony Guinn would have the luck of the Irish on his side.

After watching his Cardinals drop a 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game to Saint Benedict Saturday — the second straight game in which SMU's loss was decided by a free kick — however, Guinn might want to check and see if his lucky Irish membership dues have been paid.

"This wasn't one of our better games, we did not play as well as we are capable," said Guinn, whose team has dropped two straight, and is in the midst of a season-high five-game winless streak (0-3-2). "I don't know what it was, but we couldn't make a five-foot pass, and that's a little disappointing.

"I was happy to see us battle back the way we did," continued Guinn, whose team rallied form a 1-0 first-half deficit on a goal by Lisa Tlougan (Rochester, Minn.) six minutes into the second half — only to relinquish the lead again on a direct free kick off the foot of CSB's Erin Flynn. "To finally pull even, and then to have (Saint Benedict) get that free-kick goal, it just took all the wind out of our sails.

"It's never easy to lose, but to lose like that — two games in a row — it's heartbreaking.

The Cardinals, who dropped a 2-1 decision to Augsburg on a second-half penalty kick last Saturday, fell behind early against the Blazers, as CSB's Allyson Draxler broke in alone and beat SMU goalkeeper Jennifer Johnson (Racine, Wis.) just two minutes into the opening half.

Tlougan got the equalizer, netting her team-leading eighth goal of the season early in the second half, but the tie was short-lived, as Flynn launched a looping free kick over the outstretched arms of Johnson and into the upper right-hand corner. Tina Lisk gave the Blazers an insurance goal with less than 10 minutes remaining in regulation to ice the win.

"There haven't been too many games this season in which I haven't felt we played pretty decent soccer," said Guinn, whose team fell to 2-4-3 in the MIAC and 8-4-3 overall with the loss. "But today, we just didn't seem to have it. We didn't create a ton of opportunities, but when we did, we'd pass the ball to the wrong team.

"It's tough to close out your home season this way," added Guinn, whose Cardinals close out the season with three road games next week. "Our fans have been so supportive, it's too bad we couldn't have put a better performance on the field."