COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — The last three times the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team took the field against Saint John's, the game was decided in overtime.
 
That trend came to a screeching halt on Saturday — and not in a good way for the Cardinals.
 
Saint John's scored three goals in the opening half, including two in a four-minute span late in the period — and the Johnnies never took their foot off the accelerator in rolling to a 7-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Cardinals.
 
The Johnnies did not waste any time putting the Cardinals behind the eight-ball, scoring just 13 minutes into the opening half, when Cole Ober's shot eluded SMU goalkeeper Daniel Sessler (Brookfield, Ill.) and nestled into the lower left-hand corner of the net for a 1-0 SJU lead.
 
Saint John's would push that edge to 3-0 before the half ended, as Cooper Nowak beat Sessler in the 37th minute, and, four minutes later, Kevin Arthur found the back of the net to give the Johnnies a three-goal cushion at the half.
 
The halftime intermission did nothing to slow the Johnnies' offensive juggernaut, as Matt D. Anderson made it 4-0 eight minutes into the second half, converting on a penalty kick.
 
And the Johnnies were just getting warmed up.
 
Kevin Stark-Haws pushed the SJU lead to 5-0 in the 77th minute, and Alex Bowman scored back-to-back goals seven minutes apart late in the half to round out the Johnnies' scoring.
 
Sessler finished with six saves in 80 minutes of work between the pipes, while Jacob Wing (Verona, Wis.) recorded one save in 10 minutes of relief.
 
The Cardinals (0-2-0 MIAC, 3-2-2 overall) are back in action on Wednesday, when they host Simpson in a 5 p.m. nonconference game at Ochrymowycz Field.