WINONA, Minn. – Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach Eric Zimmernan would have loved to have written a little better ending, but the story that was the Cardinals' 2009 season was, in his mind, a best-seller anyway.
“We didn't go out quite the way we wanted, but, overall, it was a very good season,” Zimmerman said after the Cardinals closed out their 2009 campaign with a 1-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to St. Thomas. “To bring back virtually the same team from a year ago – a team that did not win a conference game and went 5-12-1 overall – and finish above .500, that's a pretty rewarding season.
“We made some great strides this year – and if we could have gotten a break here or there, those nine (overall) wins could have easily been 10 or 11.”
With their five seniors playing their final collegiate game, the Cardinals were hoping for a storybook ending. St. Thomas, however, had other ideas – the Tommies decided to give SMU yet another heart-breaking defeat.
SMU battled UST to a scoreless tie until the game's final 12 minutes, when the Tommies' Erin Sprangers broke the deadlock with her ninth goal of the season, beating SMU goalkeeper
Mariana Sanchez (Puebla, Mexico) with the game-winning shot.
'It's a tough way to end the game – and the season,” said Zimmerman, whose team closed out the year 9-8-1 overall. “This group has really accomplished a ton this year and as tough as this one is right now, we can definitely look back on the season and say it was a success.”
