FOND DU LAC, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University men's soccer team's offense was ailing heading into Tuesday's nonconference game against Marian.
After all, in their last three games, the Cardinals had managed just one goal — sandwiching a pair of shutout losses around a 3-1 setback to Bethel.
Enter the Sabres, who turned out to be just what the doctor ordered.
In fact, the Cardinals didn't waste any time getting their offense on track, scoring in the game's second minute and never looked back in beating Marian 2-0.
“This was a great win for us,” said SMU coach Chris Dembiec, whose team improved to 3-3-0 overall with the win. “The conditions were tough — rainy and cool — and I was really pleased with the way the guys handled them. It's not easy to play in the rain like that, but I thought we did a great job.”
And it doesn't hurt when you are leading 1:45 into the opening half.
“Getting that goal right off the bat really helped set the one,” Dembiec said. “We've been struggling a bit offensively of late, and it was nice to get that early boost.”
Steve Boussie (Troy, Mich.) gave the Cardinals that early boost, netting his second goal of the season of an assist from Juamaine Venter (Rochester, Minn.), while Bobby Gas (Lake Zurich, Ill.) pushed SMU's advantage to 2-0 — again off an assist from Venter — in the 34th minute.
And with senior Jon Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) between the pipes, that two-goal lead was more than enough, as Szafranski stopped all four shots he faced en route to his third shutout of the season.
“We've got such a tough stretch of games ahead of us,” said Dembiec, whose team plays three more games in the next five days, beginning Wednesday at home against Viterbo. “It's nice to get things off on the right foot.”
