By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn.. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's soccer team had every intention of writing the picture-perfect ending by sending its three graduating seniors — Chris Beiersdorf (Arlington Heights, Ill.), Daniel Nolte (Owatonna, Minn.), and Alberto Centeno (Elk Grove Village, Ill.) — off with a win Tuesday evening in the Cardinals' final home game of the season.
 
Carleton, however, wasn't about to follow the script.
 
The playoff-bound Knights scored three goals in the second half to pull away and deal the Cardinals a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
The Cardinals actually scored the only goal of the first half in the game's 35^th minute — unfortunately, it was into their own net, giving Carleton a 1-0 advantage.
 
The Knights would maintain that edge over the final 10 minutes of the opening half, and pushed their on advantage to 2-0 on a goal by Marco da Cunha in the 54^th minute.
 
Carleton would return the own-goal favor less than a minute later, as goalkeeper Aaron Forman fanned on an attempted clearing pass off a back-pass from a Knight defender, and the ball rolled into the empty net to pull the Cardinals within one, 2-1.
 
That would be as close as Saint Mary's would come, however, as Brennan Johnson netted his first goal of the season in the 75^th minute to make it 3-1 and da Cunha tallied his second of the game — and team-leading 10^th of the season — nine minutes later to round out the scoring.
 
Centeno finished with eight saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Forman stopped two of Saint Mary's three shots on goal.
 
The Cardinals (2-7-0 MIAC, 5-11-1 overall) close out the 2018 season on the road on Saturday, heading to Moorhead, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. conference showdown against Concordia.