WINONA, Minn. — Mother Nature did her part to heat up a late October afternoon, as the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota and Saint John's men's soccer teams squared off Saturday afternoon under sunny skies and temperatures in the upper 60s.
 
Unfortunately for Saint Mary's, not even a boost from Mother Nature could help the Cardinals' offense break out of its mid-season deep-freeze.
 
The Johnnies scored once in the first half and twice more in the second in handing the Cardinals a 3-0 conference setback at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
SJU got on the board in the 31st minute, as Alex Niederloh converted on a penalty kick to give the Johnnies a 1-0 advantage heading into halftime.
 
Two minutes into the second half, the Johnnies would find the back of the net again, as Cole Howard took a feed from Alex Schnobrich and beat Cardinal goalkeeper Joey Petrich (Elk River, Minn.) to push Saint John's advantage to 2-0.
 
Schnobrich was in a giving mood again 30 minutes later, as the Johnnie set-up teammate Zach Wright to give SJU a 3-0 cushion.
 
The Cardinals are back in conference play on Wednesday, hosting Hamline in a 7 p.m. contest at Ochrymowycz Field.