WINONA, Minn. — If there's one thing Augsburg has become infamous for over the past year, it's leaving their opponents fit to be tied.
Literally.
The Auggies headed into their conference showdown against the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team having tied five of their 16 matches.
In fact, over the past two seasons, Augsburg has played nine games that ended in a tie.
Wednesday evening, however, it was the Cardinals who were giving the Auggies fits — and they weren't about to be tied, either.
Amy Sibik (Onalaska, Wis.) scored the game's only goal five minutes into the second half in leading the Cardinals to a 1-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at Ochrymowycz Field.
“This was a great win for us,” said SMU coach Eric Zimmerman. “This was a game that we controlled from start to finish. We were the better team, and we played like we were the better team — it was a total team effort.”
An effort that earned the Cardinals win No. 9 — and secured a winning season.
“It's been a great turnaround for the program,” said Zimmerman, whose Cardinals struggled to a 5-12-1 overall record — not to mention an 0-11-0 conference mark — in his first season a year ago, and, with virtually the same team, transformed it into a squad that heads into its season finale Saturday at St. Thomas with a 9-7-1 overall mark and a 3-6-1 conference record. “This team has really come together this season and I couldn't be prouder.
“We still have some work ahead of us — we'd like nothing better than to close out the season with a win at St. Thomas — but right now it feels really good what this team has accomplished.”
After a scoreless first half Wednesday — a half in which SMU held a 6-2 advantage in shots — Sibik and the Cardinals finally got on the board, as the junior forward took a picture-perfect feed from
Keirra Metcalfe (Pickering, Ontario) and laced a shot past Auggie goalkeeper Diana Bocklund for her team-leading 14th goal of the season.
And with Mariana Sanchez (Puebla, Mexico) between the SMU pipes, one goal was more than enough, as the Cardinal senior stopped all four Auggie shots in recording her sixth shutout of the season.
“It feels good to get a close, hard-fought win,”said Zimmerman. “We've been on the other end of a few of these — the overtime loss at Macalester and the double-overtime loss at Saint Benedict certainly come to mind — and it's definitely a lot nicer on the winning end.”
