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WINONA, Minn. — It's often been said that the game of soccer is a marathon, not a sprint.

Saint John's, however, would beg to differ.

The Johnnies left the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team in their dust Saturday afternoon, as SJU scored goals in the opening minutes of each half in handing the Cardinals a 3-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Ochrymowycz Field.

“(Saint John's) took advantage of our mistakes today, no question about that,” said SMU coach Pete Watkins. “Right now, our biggest problem is we don't seem to be learning from those mistakes, and until we can do that, we are going to struggle against opportunistic teams like Saint John's.”

Michael Coborn got the Johnnies on the board in the game's fifth minute, scoring his fourth of the season off assists by David Wee and Zane Heinselman. The Johnnies would push their advantage to 2-0 on a goal by Matt Carson late in the second half, before Josh Witaker closed out the scoring with his third of the season just three minutes into the second half.

Goalkeeper Christian Van Dam (Linovia, Mich.) finished with six saves for the Cardinals, while the Johnnies' Kevin Lebahn stopped all four shots he faced in recording the shutout.

The Cardinals (3-5-0 MIAC, 6-9-1 overall) hit the road for their final two games of the regular season, heading to St. Paul, Minn., for a 7:30 p.m. conference contest against Macalester on Tuesday, before traveling to Minneapolis, Minn., on Saturday for a 1 p.m. showdown with Augsburg.