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Game Summary vs. Macalester / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — After a four-game road trip — not to mention three “home games” prior to that played at Winona State or Winona Cotter — the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team finally returned home Saturday, playing host to Macalester on their very own home turf.

The Scots, however, weren't very gracious guests, raining on the Cardinals' homecoming parade by scoring three first-half goals en route to a 3-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

“It's frustrating, because this was not a 3-0 game,” said SMU coach Eric Zimmerman, whose team saw its winless streak against Macalester climb to 13 straight (0-11-2), dating back to a 1-0 Cardinal win in 1995, while SMU's current slide reached a season-high four straight. “We gave up two goals off corner kicks and another on a great play by (Macalester). Other than that, it was a nip-and-tuck game.

“It's just those little letdowns that are causing us so many problems.”

Letdowns, and a lack of offensive punch.

The Cardinals managed just four shots on goal Saturday — all in the first half — and have now gone four straight games without scoring a goal.

“We created some good chances, we just haven't been able to finish,” said Zimmerman, whose team has not scored since Bethany Kaufmann (Green Bay, Wis.) scored in the 28th minute of SMU's 1-0 win over Ripon on Sept. 28 — a span of 422 minutes. “Offensively, we did an OK job, especially in the first half, but we couldn't cash in on any of them.”

Rosie Betzler gave the Scots' all the offense their would need with her fifth goal of the season seven minutes into the opening half. Liz Hormann made it 2-0 18 minutes later, heading a cross from Maddie Mette past SMU goalkeeper Mariana Sanchez (Puebla, Mexico), and Jenna Machado closed out the scoring with her first of the season in the final minute of the half.

“The losses are tough, but I am still seeing improvement every time we take the field,” said Zimmerman, whose team is now off until Saturday, when they play host to Saint Benedict (1 p.m.) in their final home game of the season. “This team just keep battling and battling, and that's encouraging. It would be easy for them to just go through the motions, but they don't — they give it everything they've got from start to finish.

“And as long as they do that, that's all I can ask.”