WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's soccer team entered Monday's nonconference game against Martin Luther having never lost to the Knights.
 
In fact, in those first five meetings, the Cardinals shut out the Knights all five times.
 
And thanks to a four-goal second-half offensive explosion, both of those streaks remained intact, as the Cardinals dealt Martin Luther a 5-0 setback at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
The Cardinal offense came out firing on all cylinders right from the outset, recording six shots in the game's first 12 minutes.  Saint Mary's finally broke the scoreless deadlock midway through the first half, when sophomore Cerim Palislamovic (Jacksonville, Fla.) found the back of the net for his first goal of the season and second as a Cardinal.
 
Saint Mary's maintained that one-goal lead into the halftime intermission, before the Cardinals turned up the offensive heat in the second half, a half that proved to be filled with plenty of "firsts" for young Cardinal squad.
 
Landon Pendleton (Mobile, Ala.) scored not only his first collegiate goal in the 56th minute, but rifled another shot past Martin Luther goalkeeper Michael Friesenegger merely three minutes later to make it his first collegiate two-goal night.
 
And the Cardinals kept their foot on the gas pedal, as freshman Roberto Bontempi (Santos, Brazil.) scored the first goal of his career in the 78th minute and sophomore Alex Keeler (Antioch, Ill.) tallied his first goal in a Cardinal uniform eight minutes later minute. Assists for those goals came from Eli Szymanski (La Crosse, Wis.) and Garrison Corn (Grand Junction, Colo.), respectively.
 
Goalkeeper Jacob Wing (Verona, Wis.) chalked up two saves en route to his second collegiate win.
 
The Cardinals (2-1-0 overall) are back in action Wednesday, when their return to Ochrymowycz Field for a 7 p.m. nonconference game against Crown.