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Wednesday, October 29, 2003 |
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(Through Tuesday, October 28) |
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The Cardinals suffered their second straight MIAC shutout loss, falling to St. Benedict 8-0 last Saturday. … St. Catherine, meanwhile, was also shut out in its last game, falling to St. Thomas 5-0 last Saturday. |
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Jody Kielbasa scored SMU's second goal of the season — snapping a scoreless streak of more than 632 minutes — but it was not enough as St. Catherine rolled to a 4-1 win over the Cardinals on Oct. 12, 2002. |
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In their last two games, the Cardinals have faced the top two teams in the MIAC — St. Benedict and St. Thomas — and have been outscored 12-0. … St. Ben's eight goals were the most given up by the Cardinals this season. … Ten of SMU's 13 losses have come by shutout. … Diane Schirmers (Prior Lake, Minn.) leads the Cardinals in scoring with five goals and 12 points. … Two of SMU's three wins have come on their home field — where they close out the season this week vs. St. Catherine on Wednesday and Hamline on Saturday. |
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Year Hometown |
WINONA, Minn. — It's one of the longest trips the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team has to take — three-and-a-half hours on a bus to St. Joseph, Minn., home of St. Benedict.
And, thanks to an 8-0 drubbing at the hands of the league-leading Blazers, last Saturday's return trip home was that much longer.
St. Benedict, which moved to 7-0-2 in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, scored three times in the first half, then added five more goals in the second half, in handing SMU (2-7-0 MIAC, 3-13-0) its second-straight shutout loss.
"They are a very, very good team — the best we've faced all year," said SMU coach Dan Blank of St. Benedict. "We knew we were going to have our hands full with them. We just couldn't hold them off forever."
Meggie De St. Aubin opened the scoring at 5:19, and Megan Mcvoy added back-to-back goals in a six-minute span 20 minutes later to give the Blazers (11-2-2 overall) a commanding 3-0 halftime advantage.
Things just went from bad to worse for the Cardinals in the second half.
Erin Doyle and Kate Aubrecht scored back-to-back goals one minute apart early in the half to push the lead to 5-0. Cassara Skramstad made it 7-0 with a pair of goals, while Meg O'Neill closed out the scoring at the 82:24 mark.
SMU goalkeeper Emily Strom (Waterford, Wis.) finished with 11 saves, while Tae Ruppe posted a two-save shutout for the Blazers.
"I don't know what it is, but we have not played very well on the road this season," admitted Blank, whose team has won just one of its eight road games this season. "Part of that has been the schedule — we've played (league-leaders) Concordia, Macalester and St. Ben's all on the road — but no matter who we've played, we just haven't played nearly as well on the road as we have at home."
Fortunately for Blank and the Cardinals, there are no more road games this season, as SMU closes out its season with home games against St. Catherine on Wednesday and Hamline on Saturday.
"This last week, this is our playoffs," said Blank. "As we continue to rebuild our program, we have to set small goals — and right now, our goal is to win these last two games. If we can do that, we will have made a huge step up (in the conference standings), but more importantly, we will have ended this season on a high note — and hopefully set ourselves up for an even stronger season next year."