By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University men's soccer coach Corbin Bowers has got to be scratching his head, wondering what he ever did to make Mother Nature so angry at him.
 
For the second time in less than a week, Bowers and the Cardinals have felt the full force of Mother Nature's wrath — taking the field for Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against Saint John's in a driving rain and temperatures hovering in the upper 40s.
 
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, Saturday's rain-soaked outcome wasn't any more favorable than Tuesday's 4-1 loss at St. Olaf.
 
Saint John's jumped out to a 3-1 halftime advantage, then held off a furious Cardinal second-half rally, as the Johnnies dealt Saint Mary's a 5-3 conference setback at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
SJU opened the scoring in the 10th minute, getting a goal from Kagan Foster — his sixth of the season to grab an early 1-0 lead. The lead did not last long, however, as Josh Balsiger (Camas, Wash.) matched Foster's effort with his own sixth goal of the season seven minutes later to pull Saint Mary's even, 1-1.
 
The remainder of the half, however, belonged to the Johnnies, who got goals from Nathan Stone and Ben Becker before the half ended to take a 3-1 advantage into the locker room at the break.
 
Foster pushed the SJU lead to 4-1 just two minutes into the second half, but the Cardinals weren't about to throw in the rain-soaked towel, answering with back-to-back goals from Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) and Jacob Clements (Holmen, Wis.) 30 seconds apart 10 minutes after Foster's second tally of the game to pull Saint Mary's within one, 4-3.
 
That would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Brian Pacceli gave the Johnnies a little breathing room with less than six minutes remaining in regulation to round out the scoring.
 
Sam Morris (Hockinson, Wash.) finished with five saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Payton Spencer recorded three saves for the Johnnies.
 
The Cardinals (1-3-0 MIAC, 4-6-0 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, when they return to Ochrymowycz Field for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against Carroll. The Johnnies, meanwhile, are right back in action on Sunday, returning home to Haws Field in Collegeville, Minn., for a 3:30 p.m. nonconference contest against UM-Morris.