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WINONA, Minn. — Heading into Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Augsburg, Saint Mary's University men's soccer coach Chris Dembiec hasn't had to try hard to find silver linings during his Cardinals' seven-game winless streak.

And Saturday was no different, as the Cardinals matched the Auggies blow-for-blow — only to come up a penalty kick conversion short of earning at least one point.

Problem was, has been the case since early September, close is as close as the Cardinals would get, as Augsburg scored twice in the first half, then held off a furious second-half charge to handing SMU a 2-1 setback at Ochrymowycz Field.

"It's so frustrating, because they guys are playing their hearts out — and they are playing well enough to win, they just aren't getting the results they deserve," said Dembiec, whose team is now 0-7-1 in its last eight games — and has not won since a 3-0 decision against Northland on Sept. 8. "I feel bad, because this was another game that I felt we played just as well as (Augsburg) did — it was a game that easily could have gone in our favor."

And almost did.

Trailing 2-1 with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, the Cardinals' Joey Manley (Racine, Wis.) was awarded a penalty kick, only to have his attempt sail high over the cross bar.

"It's a tough way to lose," said Dembiec. "I certainly can't fault Joey, he knew where he wanted to go (with the shot) and it just sailed on him a bit. It's unfortunate, because more than anything, that was our chance to take at least a point out of this game. Those are the chances you have to take advantage of, and right now, we aren't doing that."

The Auggies jumped out to what appeared to be a commanding 2-0 first-half lead, as Andrew Connor and Nick Manders both scored two minutes apart midway through the opening 45 minutes. Jermaine Walker (Evanston, Ill.) cut the Auggie lead to one, 2-1, when her converted a penalty kick in the game's 66th minute.

Augsburg nearly regained its two-goal lead two minutes after Walker's tally, but SMU goalkeeper Jon Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) made a diving stop on a shot by Tyler Henrichs to keep it a one-goal game.

"It's a disappointing loss, no question about that," said Dembiec. "I'm proud of the way the guys battled — they never got down and they never gave up. There were a lot of things we did very well today.

"Unfortunately, after a while, the silver linings don't feel quite so good — we need to get a 'W' for our efforts, it's that simple."