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2006 Records:
0-0-0 MIAC, 2-0-0 Overall
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This and That:
The Cardinals' season-opening 10-1 rout of Rockford marked the highest single-game offensive output since SMU scored 34 goals in three games during the 1983 St. Norbert Tournament. … The Cardinals are 2-0-0 for the first time since 2001, when SMU opened the season 3-0-0. … After leading the team with 10 goals and 22 points a year ago, Mike Schmitt (Woodridge, Ill.) opened 2006 with back-to-back two-goal efforts vs. Rockford and North Central. … Freshman Terrence Coonan (Fort Wayne, Ind.) netted his first collegiate goal vs. Rockford and added another vs. North Central. … Emmanuel Ogunremi (Evanston, Ill.), Brett Stanley (Woodbury, Minn.), Chris Chan (Columbia Heights, Minn.), James Kuhnle (Burlington, Wis.) and Louie Lamanna (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) also netted their first collegiate goals over the wekeend. … After playing every minute of every game a year ago, GK Ryan O'Connor (San Diego, Calif.) got his first break Friday, as Ryan Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) played the final 14:06 vs. Rockford. He did not have to make a save. … Ten of SMU's 14 goals have come in the seocnd half, while both of the Cardinals' opponents goals have come in the game's final 45 minutes. 


Scoring goals not a problem as Cardinals open the
2006 season with 10-1, 4-1 nonconference victories

Who's Hot?

Mike
Schmitt
4 goals in
1st two games
WINONA, Minn. — After erupting for 10 goals in their season-opening 10-1 win over Rockford last Friday, there was only one question left for the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team: What can the Cardinals do for an encore?

How about four more goals — and a second straight win.

The Cardinals pushed their season-opening winning streak to two, and pushed their goal-scoring total to 14 — just five shy of the 19 goals SMU scored all of last year — Saturday, as Mike Schmitt (Woodridge, Ill.) netted a pair of goals to lead Saint Mary's to a 4-1 nonconference win over North Central.

"What a great way to start the season," said SMU first-year coach Chris Dembiec. "Obviously, when you score 10 goals like we did Friday, your team has to play pretty well, but I really thought we played better (Saturday against North Central).

"That was a quality win against a quality opponent," continued Dembiec, whose team's 10-goal outburst on Friday was the most goals scored by the Cardinals in a single game since early in the 1983 season, when SMU netted 34 goals in three games at the St. Norbert Tournament. "It was good to see us continue to take advantage of the scoring opportunities we created."

James Kuhnle (Burlington, Wis.) got the Cardinals on the board vs. North Central off a corner kick 26 minutes into the opening half, and Schmitt pushed that advantage to 2-0 with an unassisted tally two minutes into the second half. Rockford cut the Cardinals' lead to 2-1 five minutes later, but SMU responded with back-to-back goals by Terrence Coonan (Fort Wayne, Ind.) and Schmitt to ice the win.

"We started out a bit tentative (against North Central)," Dembiec said. "I don't know if it was a little bit of overconfidence after Friday's win, but we just seemed to hang back a bit. Then Terrence (Coonan) punched in that goal at the 26-minute mark and that really seemed to jump-start us a bit.

"This isn't what I expected at all," admitted Dembiec. "I was a little worried about where our offense would be, especially after this team struggled so much to score goals a year ago.

"This was a great way for us to get the season started," added Dembiec of his team's two-game, 14-goal weekend. "I didn't really know what to expect from this team when the weekend started.

"I guess I do now."

Which is good news for Dembiec, and bad news for the Cardinals' opponents.