WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's soccer team entered Tuesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Bethel still searching for its first conference win.
 
The Cardinals had come close—each of their first three conference losses were by one goal.
 
So it came as no surprise to coach Corbin Bowers that Tuesday's end result with the Royals would also be a one-goal nailbiter.
 
Fortunately, this time around, it was the Cardinals on the winning end, as Saint Mary's scored a pair of goals in the game's first 25 minutes en route to a 2-1 victory over Bethel at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
Charles Reit (Arcadia, Wis.) got the Cardinals off and running, scoring his third goal of the season—off an assist from Mateo Means (Dallas, Texas)—in the 17^th minute to give Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead.
 
Seven minutes later, it was Josh Balsiger's (Camas, Wash.) turn to find the back of the net, taking a feed from Garrett Grunke (Verona, Wis.) and rifling a shot into the upper left-hand corner to push the Cardinal advantage to 2-0.
 
Saint Mary's maintained that two-goal cushion until the 61^st minute, when the Royals' Joey Gronseth headed a Kevin Hintz cross past Cardinal goalkeeper Nate Levy (Byron, Minn.) to cut the lead to 2-1.
 
That would be as close as the Royals would get however, as Saint Mary's dominated play over the final 29 minutes to put an end to its conference losing streak—not to mention a five-game slide.
 
Levy needed to make just one save in earning the win in goal for the Cardinals, while Royals' goalkeeper Jakob Bartels finished with three saves.
 
The Cardinals (1-3-0 MIAC, 5-5-0 overall) step out of conference play on Sunday, playing host to UM-Morris in a 2 p.m. contest at Ochrymowycz Field.