Box Score  | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — After scoring a single goal in their season-opening 1-0 victory over Cornell (Iowa) on Friday, the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team kicked their offense into high gear on Sunday.

The Cardinals erupted for 11 goals — including a pair of goals from Matt Graber (Denver, Colo.), Midhat Mujic (Rochester, Minn.) and Nate Vandegrift (Lakeville, Minn.) — in cruising to their second straight victory, an 11-1 rout of Presentation Sunday at Ochrymowycz Field.

"I thought we did a lot of nice things out there today," understated SMU coach Pete Watkins, whose Cardinals outshot the Saints 19-1 and dominated play from start to finish. "We were able to get a lot of playing time for a number of different people, and that's important — especially early in the season."

Graber — the SMU's leading scorer a year ago — got the Cardinals' scoring parade off and running in the game's 22nd minute, and by the time the half ended, Mujic had scored twice, and Gianluca LoCasto (Oak Park, Ill.) and Derrick Washington (Minneapolis, Minn.) had also found the back of the net.

And it was more of the same in the game's second 45 minutes, as Cody Balogh (Batavia, Ill.) scored just 1:01 into the second half to make it 6-0 and just two minutes later, Graber netted his second of the game to push the lead to 7-0. Trevor Rottinghaus (La Porte City, Iowa) and Andrew Jaworski (Racine, Wis.) connected eight minutes apart midway through the half, and Vandegrift closed out the scoring with his first two collegiate tallies in the 73rd and 80th minutes.

The Cardinals (2-0-0 overall) are back in action — and back on their home turf — on Thursday, as SMU hosts Lakeland in a 7 p.m. nonconference contest at Ochrymowycz Field.