By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
NORTHFIELD, Minn. — For 45 minutes Saturday afternoon, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota men's soccer team matched St. Olaf blow-for-blow.
 
Unfortunately for coach Corbin Bowers, the game's final 45 minutes didn't come out quite the same way.
 
Saint Mary's — thanks to a Robbie Sobczak (Cloquet, Minn.) goal with three minutes left in the opening half — went into the halftime break deadlocked with the Oles 1-1.
 
And held a 7-5 advantage in shots on goal.
 
Fifteen minutes into the second half, however, the Oles' offense came to life — and the Cardinals had no way of slowing it down.
 
St. Olaf scored three goals in a 20-minute span — including back-to-back goals three minutes apart — erasing that 1-1 deadlock and leading the Oles to a 4-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over the Cardinals at Rolf Melby Field.
 
The Oles jumped on the board first, as Sam Heupel banged a rebound past Cardinal goalkeeper Alberto Centeno (Elk Grove Village, Ill.) in the 20^th minute to give St. Olaf a 1-0 advantage.
 
St. Olaf maintained that one-goal edge until late in the first half, when Sobczak took a feed from Tyler Hyatt and beat Ole goalkeeper Ben Westermeyer for his first of the season — and a 1-1 deadlock at the break.
 
Will Douglas gave St. Olaf the lead for good 13 minutes into the second half , scoring his team-leading third goal of the season, and Olaf's Morkeberg and Farid Sani found the back of the net three minutes apart just three minutes after Douglas' tally to seal the Ole win.
 
Centeno finished with five saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Westermeyer stopped eight of the Cardinals' nine shots on goal for the Oles.
 
The Cardinals (0-2-0 MIAC, 3-3-0 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, stepping out of conference play to host Loras in a 7:30 p.m. match at Ochrymowycz Field.