ST. PETER, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach Eric Zimmerman can count his team's mistakes against Gustavus on one hand.
Make that on two fingers.
Unfortunately for Zimmerman and the Cardinals, those two mistakes resulted in two goals, as the Gusties scored since goals in each half in handing SMU a 2-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback Wednesday afternoon.
“It was tough to criticize our play after the game, because I thought we played a great game — even better than we played last Saturday,” said Zimmerman, whose team had picked up its first conference win of the season last Saturday with a 1-0 win over St. Catherine. “We had some great chances and weren't able to convert, and defensively, we made two mistakes and both resulted in (Gustavus) goals.”
The Gusties got all the offense they would need in the game's 32nd minute as Rachel Iblings netted her third goal of the season. Becca Hagen gave GAC a little breathing room three minutes into the second half, beating SMU goalkeeper Mariana Sanchez (Puebla, Mexico) with her fifth goal of the season.
“You always hate to lose,” said Zimmerman, whose team returns to conference play Saturday, traveling to Moorhead, Minn., for a 1 p.m. conference contest against unbeaten and league-leading Concordia. “But when you put forth the type of effort we did today, it's hard to be too down.”
