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Saturday, October 11, 2003 |
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(Through Friday, October 10) |
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The Cardinals gave up five first-half goals for the second straight game in falling to Concordia 6-0 last Saturday. … The Royals' offensive struggles continued as Bethel was shut out for the fifth straight game in a 3-0 loss to Martin Luther on Tuesday. |
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Becky Butters scored the game's first three goals as Bethel cruised to a 4-0 win over the Cardinals on Nov. 2, 2002. |
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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. … Bethel has been shut out in five straight games and is still looking for its first win of the season. |
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Year Hometown |
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 looks to snap out of its losing ways this afternoon against Bethel. "We have to find a way to come out ready to play from the minute the game starts until the final horn.
"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."