WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University and Bethel women's soccer teams headed into Tuesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener boasting rather gaudy offensive numbers.
The Cardinals, who opened the season with four straight nonconference wins, had netted 15 goals — including nine off the foot of junior Amy Sibik (Onalaska, WIs.) — while allowing just three in dispatching of Simpson, Central-Iowa, Crown and UW-Superior.
The Royals, meanwhile, arrived at Ochrymowycz Field riding a season-opening five-game winning streak — having outscored those first five opponents 40-0.
In other words, Tuesday's conference opener had the potential for more fireworks than a Fourth of July celebration.
Instead, it turned into the Mariana Sanchez (Puebla, Mexico) Show.
Sanchez stopped everything the Royals threw at her — at that was a lot — as the junior goalkeeper held the high-powered Bethel offense off the board in leading the Cardinals to a 0-0 tie.
“It's not the win we were hoping for, but it was certainly a hard-fought point — and in this league, every point is crucial,” said SMU coach Eric Zimmerman. “We knew coming in that (Bethel) had the ability to score a lot of goals, and defensively we were ready for them.
“We played a great game all the way around, but defensively, we were outstanding.”
Led by the play of Sanchez, who made more than a handful of highlight-reel stops — including a pair of back-to-back diving saves on shots by Carrie Kishaba and Lydia Bergeson late in the first half. Kishaba broke free down the right side and laced a shot that Sanchez had to dive to her right to stop, but the rebound bounced right to Bergeson, whose attempt was then pushed aside by Sanchez, who dove from her knees to push the ball away.
Sanchez would add two more acrobatic saves against the Royal duo, while also stopped a breakaway by punching away the shot of Brittany Griffore, who broke in alone late in the second half.
“What can I say? Mariana was unbelievable tonight,” Zimmerman said of his senior goalkeeper, who finished with a season-high 13 saves in recording her second shutout of the season. “She made some huge saves that really kept us in the game.
“I'm proud of the way this team played — they really scrapped and battled from start to finish.”
