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2003 Record: 0-5-0 MIAC / 1-11-0 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: Oct. 1: Gustavus 5, Saint Mary's 0 Oct. 4: Concordia 6, Saint Mary's 0 |
| This Week's Events: Sat., Oct. 11: Bethel, 1 p.m. |
| This and That: The Cardinals saw their losing streak climb to nine straight with back-to-back losses to Gustavus (5-0) and Concordia (6-0) last week. … Six of those nine losses have come on the road. … Six of SMU's eight goals this season have come in the second half, in contrast to the 27 first-half goals by the Cardinals' opponents. … Diane Schirmers' (Prior Lake, Minn.) leads the team in goals (3) and points (7), while Kelli Mooney (Maple Grove, Minn.) is second with two goals and five points. … SMU has been shut out in eight of its 11 losses. |
WINONA, Minn. — Road games have not been very kind to the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team.
Last Wednesday, the Cardinals traveled to St. Peter, Minn., to take on high-powered Gustavus, and the Gusties promptly scored four goals in the game's first six minutes en route to a 5-0 first-half lead and a 5-0 victory.
Last Saturday, it was off to Moorhead, Minn., and a date with league-leading Concordia.
And this time, it was the Cobbers who scored early — and often — netting two goals in the game's first five minutes, and five in the first half en route to a 6-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win.
"It's kind of a cliché, but we never got off the bus," SMU coach Dan Blank said. "It took us 10 minutes to organize our defense (against Gustavus), but by then it was over.
"Our play has been pretty good as of late, but we just can't seem to come out ready to play after those long bus trips," continued Blank, whose team fell to 0-5-0 in the MIAC and 1-11-0 overall with last week's losses. "We've warned them about the importance of coming out mentally ready to play, but it just hasn't seemed to sink in."
What has sunken in is the fact that SMU has given up 11 first-half goals in its last two games, while the Cardinal offense has come up empty.
"For some reason, we are a slow-starting team — especially on the road," said Blank, whose team saw its losing streak climb to nine games. "We have to find a way to come out ready to play from the minute the game starts until the final horn."
And Blank is hoping to do just that this week.
"What's really nice right now is we have this whole week to prepare for Bethel," said Blank of Saturday's home game against the Royals. "We have been able to give the players a couple of days (Sunday and Monday) off, and then we will have four solid days of practice to prepare.
"This is gut-check time for us," Blank continued. "Until those last two games, I really felt that we had been making some solid improvements, but we took a few steps backwards last week and we need to stop that downward spiral.
"We need to come prepared (on Saturday) — we need to be mentally and physically ready to play our best game of the season."