Photos of UW-Whitewater game / click here

WINONA, Minn. — It was a game that, on paper, meant little to the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team.

There were not late-season dreams of a post-season berth. No hopes of a shot at a conference title.

In other words, there was nothing at stake when the Cardinals — stuck in the midst of a season-high five-game losing streak — took the field for their nonconference season finale against UW-Whitewater.

Nothing except Cardinal pride.

And for SMU, playing for pride was incentive enough.

The Cardinals matched the nationally ranked Warhawks blow-for-blow for 85 minutes, before Jeff Derer broke the scoreless deadlock in the game's 86th minute to lift UW-Whitewater to a 1-0 victory at Ochrymowycz Field.

"It's a tough way to end the season, losing another one-goal game. But the guys should feel good about the way they played — that could very well of been the best game, start-to-finish we played all season," said SMU first-year coach Chris Dembiec "These guys could have very easily come out and just went through the motions.

"Instead, they played their hearts out and gave a very good team — a team that year-in and year-out is battling for national playoff berths — a run for their money for 90 minutes," Dembiec added. "It was an unbelievable effort, and I'm very proud of all of them."

Freshman goalkeeper Jon Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) kept the Cardinals in the game, making 11 saves, including nine in the first half. Szafranski robbed the Warhawks of sure goals on three separate occasions, stopping point-blank shots from Derer, Matthew Gehn and Nathan Haas in the game's opening 45 minutes.

It was more of the same from Szafranski in the second half, before the Warhawks finally broke through with Derer's seventh goal of the season with four minutes remaining in regulation.

"We knew coming in that we were going to have to play well defensively," said Dembiec, whose team closed out its season with a 4-12-0 overall record. "(Szafranski) played great and we created some pretty good chances of our own, we just weren't able to convert on them.

"I think there are a lot of positives we can take from this game as we head into the offseason," continued Dembiec. "We showed today that we are capable of playing with anyone — we just have to find a way to do it on a more consistent basis next year."

The Cardinals will have to do that without five of its starters, however, as Sunday's game marked the end of the road for SMU seniors Mike Schmitt (Woodridge, Ill.), Jon Vik (St. Paul, Minn.), Mark Matyas (DePere, Wis.), Tim McAllister (Woodbury, Minn.) and Terrence Coonan (Fort Wayne, Ind.).

"We've got five holes to fill, no question about that," said Dembiec. "Those five guys have been our leaders all season — on and off the field — and we are going to miss their presence when we take the field again next season."