WINONA, Minn. — After the opening 45 minutes of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Saint John's, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's soccer team found itself in a familiar position—leading 1-0.
A year ago, the Cardinals scored the game's first goal and took a 1-0 lead into the intermission, only to have the Johnnies rattled off four unanswered second-half goals in handing Saint Mary's a 4-1 setback.
The Cardinals were determined not to let that happen again this time around.
And thanks to the stellar play of goalkeeper
Nate Levy (Byron, Minn.), it didn't.
Saint Mary's scored the game's only goal in the fifth minute—and the Cardinals in general, and Levy in particular, made that goal standup, in dealing the Johnnies a 1-0 setback at Ochrymowycz Field.
"That was a great team effort tonight," said Saint Mary's coach
Pete Watkins, whose team snapped a six-game losing streak against the Johnnies—dating back to a 1-0, double-overtime win in 2009. "The intensity level—the level of play all the way around—was the best I've seen in my time here.
"Our leaders talked at halftime about what happened (against Saint John's) a year ago, and they said, "Not again."
And how right they were.
James Larson (Polson, Mont.) provided the Cardinals with all the offense they would need early in the opening half, taking a feed from
Garrett Grunke (Verona, Wis.) and rifling a shot past SJU goalkeeper Nicholas French.
Clinging to that one-goal lead, Levy, who made eight saves en route to his second shutout of the season, earned his keep over the game's final 45 minutes, stopping all five SJU shots—including back-to-back point-blank Johnnie attempts with less than 20 minutes remaining, and another diving stop in the game's final minutes.
"You've got to tip your cap to Nate, he played a great game—but defensively, everyone played a great game," said Watkins. "Saint John's is a very good, well-coached team, and our guys needed to put together by far their best performance of the season to come away with the win.
The Cardinals (1-1-0 MIAC, 4-3-0 overall) are now off until next Saturday, when they travel to Arden Hills, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. conference contest against Bethel.
