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Game Summary vs. Ripon / GameDay Online

RIPON, Wis. — A scoring drought? Can't seem to remember one.

Three-game losing streak? Not that I recall.

Seven-game winless skid? That's news to me.

You'll have to forgive Saint Mary's University men's soccer coach Chris Dembiec if his short-term memory seems a little fuzzy — a much-needed and long-overdue victory will do that to a coach.

The Cardinals got a pair of first-half goals from Adam Lindsay (Fremont, Wis.) and goalkeeper Jon Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) posted his first shutout of the season, as SMU snapped a 297-minute scoreless drought, a three-game losing streak and a seven-game winless slide with a 2-0 nonconference victory over Ripon Sunday afternoon.

“It's about time — that's all I can say,” said Dembiec, whose team had been shut out in its last three games (vs. UW-Platteville, Gustavus and Concordia) and had not scored a goal since Bobby Gas (Lake Zurich, Ill.) netted the game-tying tally against Hamline on Sept. 20. “These guys have been through a tough stretch of late, but they've hung together and they battled through it.

“Today, they were rewarded for their efforts.”

Lindsay gave the Cardinals a commanding 2-0 advantage, scoring his second and third goals of the season, and Szafranski made it stand up, as the junior goalkeeper posted SMU's first shutout win since blanking North Central (Minn.) 5-0 on Oct. 15, 2007.

“I thought we played very well, especially in the first half,” said Dembiec, whose team gets a week to enjoy the win, not returning to the pitch until Saturday, when they travel to Minneapolis, Minn., to face Augsburg in a 7:30 p.m. conference contest. “We're were a much more athletic team than (Ripon) was, and we used that to our advantage.

“It was a good, overall performance — and, finally, the guys were rewarded for their effort.”