NEW ULM, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University men's soccer team put plenty of streaks on the line when they took the field against Martin Luther Saturday afternoon.
The Cardinals entered the nonconference game unbeaten in its first four games of the season; a perfect 6-0 against Martin Luther all-time; and having shut out the Knights in all six of their previous meetings.
When the dust settled after 90 minutes of play, the Cardinals exited MLC Field with two of their three streaks still intact.
The most important two.
The Cardinals surrendered their first two goals to the Knights, but Saint Mary's pushed its season-opening unbeaten streak to five — and its all-time winning streak against Martin Luther to seven — with a commanding 5-2 nonconference victory.
Martin Luther netted its first goal ever against the Cardinals in the 11th minute on a tally by Nathan Pausma, but the lead was short-lived.
Six minutes after Pausma's goal,
Jack Hurley (Homewood, Ill.) converted his third penalty kick in as many tries to pull the Cardinals even, and
Rolando Lopez (Berwyn, Ill.) gave SMU added his second of the season just two minutes later to give SMU the lead for good, 2-1, just two minutes later.
And the quick-striking Cardinals were at it again late in the first half, as
Cerim Palislamovic (Jacksonville, Fla.) recorded SMU's second PK goal of the afternoon in the 42nd minute, and
Nathan Riess (Timnath, Colo.) popped in his first collegiate goal two minutes later to give the Cardinals a commanding 4-1 cushion at the break.
Saint Mary's picked up right where it left off in the second half, getting goal No. 5 of the game — and goal No. 2 for Palislamovic — to push its lead to 5-1, only to have Martin Luther answer two minutes later to cut the Cardinal advantage to 5-2.
That, however, would be as close as MLC would get, as the Cardinals collected its third win of the season to go with two ties.
Saint Mary's held a commanding 19-6 advantage in shots attempted, including an 11-4 edge in shots on goal.
The Cardinals (3-0-2 overall) are back in action on Tuesday, when they return home to Ochrymowycz Field to kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play with a 7 p.m. showdown against Carleton.
