DECORAH, Iowa — The Saint Mary's University men's soccer team steps out of conference play on Wednesday, taking on Luther in a 5 p.m. nonconference contest.



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (2-4-0 Overall)
at Luther Norse (4-1-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals surrendered a goal in the game's first three minutes and could never get on track, falling to St. Olaf 5-0 in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game Saturday in Northfield, Minn. … Luther, meanwhile, suffered its first loss of the season, falling to Carleton 5-2 in Northfield, Minn., Sunday.

SMU vs. Luther — Their Last Meeting:
October 22, 1994: The Cardinals and Norse have not met since late in the 1994 season, when the two teams battled to a 0-0 double-overtime tie.

Up Next:
The Cardinals return to conference play on Saturday, traveling to Bethel for a 3 p.m. MIAC game against the Royals in Arden Hills, Minn. … Luther, meanwhile, also returns to conference action on Saturday, heading to Pella, Iowa for a 4 p.m. Iowa Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Central.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
Wednesday's game against Luther is the second of four straight road games for the Cardinals, who do not play at home again until Sept. 29, when they host Concordia in a 3 p.m. contest. … Both of the Cardinals' wins this season have come on their home turf. … SMU has been held off the scoreboard in three of their four losses this season. … Last Wednesday's 4-3 overtime loss to St. Thomas was the first OT game of the season for the Cardinals, who played five overtime games a year ago — going 0-3-2. … SMU's three goals against the unbeaten Tommies equaled the offensive output of UST's first four opponents combined. … The Cardinals scored more than two goals once in 17 games last season — they have scored three goals twice in six games this season. … Krystian Drozdz (Franklin Park, Minn.) scored his first two collegiate goals against the Tommies Wednesday night, while Matt Graber (Denver, Colo.) netted his first of the season to account for the Cardinals' other goal. … Drozdz's two-goal effort marked the second time this season SMU has had a multiple-goal scorer. Midhat Mujic (Rochester, Minn.) scored two goals in the Cardinals' 3-2 season-opening win over Edgewood. … The last time SMU had two or more multiple-goal scorers in a season was 2008, when Adam Lindsay, Cristian Reyes and Andy Adair all scored twice in a game. … SMU's three goals vs. Edgewood in their season-opening 3-2 win on Aug. 31 were scored by players competing in their first games in a Cardinal uniform. Mujic scored twice and Jordan Sinkfield (St. Paul, Minn.) added the other. … With their 4-3 overtime loss to St. Thomas, the Cardinals have had four of their six games this season decided by one goal. Seventeen of SMU's 23 games under head coach Pete Watkins have been decided by one goal or less. … Dontae Gillespie (Naperville, Ill.) — who made seven saves in Wednesday's overtime loss to St. Thomas — stopped all nine shots he faced vs. Concordia-Chicago on Sept. 8 to earn his first collegiate shutout. … Gillespie has stopped a team-high 31 shots in his five goalkeeper appearances this season, while Christan Van Dam (Linovia, Mich.) has stopped six of the eight shots he's faced in three appearances. … Five of SMU's seven goals this season have come in the first half, while 10 of the 16 goals allowed by the Cardinals have been scored in the game's final 45 minutes.

Scouting The Luther Norse:
2012 Roster | 2012 Statistics | 2012 Schedule
Wednesday's game against Saint Mary's marks the sixth time this season the Norse have played a team from the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference. Luther has already faced Saint John's (T, 1-1), St. Olaf (W, 2-0), Maclaester (W, 2-0), St. Thomas (W, 4-2) and Carleton (L, 5-2). … Sunday's 5-2 loss at Carleton snapped the Norse's season-opening six-game unbeaten streak. … Luther surrendered more goals against Carleton (5) than the Norse had in their first six games combined (3). … Logan Martell and Saul Rosales accounted for Luther's two goals vs. Carleton Sunday. … Rosales' goal was his team-leading fifth of the season, while Martell netted his first of the year. … Rosales also leads the team in points (11), while Jon Gednalske, J.W. Slauson and Oket Dakwa-Agyekum share the team lead in assists with two each. … Peter Wright has started all seven games in goal for the Norse, boasting a 1.18 goals-against-average, while stopping 31 of the 38 shots he's faced for an .816 save percentage. … Ten of Luther's 15 goals have come in thesecond half. … A year ago, the Norse won its first IIAC title since 2002 and made their sixth appearance in the NCAA Division III national tournament — reaching the round of 16.