Game Summary /
GameDay Preview
ST. BONIFACIUS, Minn. — After scoring just four goals in their first three games combined, the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team's offense seemed to finally hit its stride Tuesday afternoon, as the Cardinals erupted for four goals in its nonconference game against Crown.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, Crown's offense hit its stride at the exact same time, as the Storm scored a season-high five goals in handing SMU a 5-4 setback.
“It's disheartening, “said SMU coach Chris Dembiec. “We didn't play as well on the defensive side as we need to, and on the offensive side, we missed some point-blank chances.
“We did a nice job of battling back in the second half, but it wasn't enough.”
The Storm raced out to a 2-0 lead in the game's opening 14 minutes, before
Tony Olson (South St. Paul, Minn.) cut the Cardinals' deficit to one, 2-1, with his first goal of the season in the 35th minute.
Crown started the second half in much the same way it opened the first, scoring three times in an 11-minute span to push its lead to 5-1. SMU made a game of it, as
Juamaine Venter (Rochester, Minn.) sandwiched a pair of goals around a goal by
Steve Boussie (Troy, Mich.) to get the Cardinals back within one, 5-4.
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as SMU saw its record fall to 2-2-0 overall.
The Cardinals are now off until Saturday, when they play host to UW-Superior in their final nonconference tune-up, before kicking off the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule next Tuesday at Bethel.
