Game Summary

ROCKFORD, Ill. — A year ago, the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team scored 19 goals in 16 games, leaving first-year coach Chris Dembiec a bit concerned about the Cardinals' offense heading into Friday's season-opener against Rockford.

Ninety minutes later, Dembiec must have wondered what he was so worried about.

The Cardinals equalled more than half their entire offensive output of a year ago against the Regents, erupting for seven second-half goals en route to a 10-1 victory.

"This isn't what I expected at all," admitted Dembiec, whose first collegiate coaching win saw the Cardinals score 10 goals for the first time since 1983, when SMU scored 34 goals in three St. Norbert Tournament games. "I was a little worried about where our offense would be, especially after this team struggled so much to score goals a year ago.

"This was definitely a great way to kick off the season."

Mike Schmitt (Woodridge, Ill.), John Vik (St. Paul, Minn.) and Louie Lamanna (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) gave SMU a 3-0 first-half lead, and Rockford netted its lone goal three minutes into the second half to make it a 3-1 game.

From there, however, it was all SMU. Schmitt netted his second of the game at the 51:00 mark — and the floodgates opened. Terrence Coonan (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Emmanuel Ogunremi (Evanston, Ill.) each scored a pair of goals — the first two of their collegiate careers — while Mark Matyas (DePere, Wis.), #Brett Stanley (Woodbury, Minn.) and Chris Chan (Columbia Heights, Minn.) also found the back of the net in the game's final 45 minutes.

"(Rockford) sat back a lot, which allowed us to create a lot of scoring chances," said Dembiec, whose team returns to action Saturday, traveling to North Central for a 7 p.m. game. "What made it even nicer was the fact that we were able to convert on a lot of those scoring chance.

"It was definitely a game that will help boost our (offensive) confidence."