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Wednesday, September 24, 2003 |
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(Through Tuesday, September 23) |
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SMU dropped both of its games last week, falling 6-0 to defending MIAC champion Macalester on Wednesday, then dropping a 5-0 decision to St.Olaf on Saturday. … UW-Stout had its two-game winning streak snapped on Sunday with a 2-1 loss to UW-Whitewater. |
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After a scoreless first half, UW-Stout netted two goals three minutes apart early in the second half en route to a 2-0 win over SMU on Sept. 10, 2002. |
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SMU saw its losing streak climb to five straight with their losses to Macalester and St. Olaf last week. … With the two shutout losses, SMU has now lost 13 straight MIAC contests and have been outscored 55-1 in that span. … After playing their last three games on the road, SMU returns home for its next two — Wednesday vs. UW-Stout and Saturday vs. Augsburg. … Diane Schirmers (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Kelli Mooney (Maple Grove, Minn.) lead the Cardinals in scoring with two goals each. |
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Year Hometown |
WINONA, Minn. — Nicole Bohn (Winona, Minn.) and the rest of the SMU goalkeepers have been desperately trying to do their part. The problem of late has been, unless the Cardinal goalkeepers are perfect, the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team isn't going to win.
The Cardinals suffered back-to-back shutout losses last week — 6-0 to defending MIAC champion Macalester last Wednesday, and 5-0 to St. Olaf on Saturday. And while 11 goals against in two games isn't quite what coach Dan Blank wants, it's the zeroes on the offensive end that bother him more.
"We need to find a way to score some goals," said Blank. "Obviously, we can't be giving up five and six goals a game, but if we don't score, it doesn't matter how many goals we give up."
How bad are SMU's offensive woes? The Cardinals have scored one conference goal — on Oct. 12, 2002 against St. Catherine — in their last 13 MIAC games.
"It's been tough, because there have been a number of times when we really haven't played all that poorly," said Blank. "Macalester was not one of our better games, but (against St. Olaf last Saturday), we certainly played better than the final score indicates. We had some great chances, but couldn't punch one in."
The Cardinals' best opportunity against the Oles came just minutes after Liz Tanner had give St. Olaf a 1-0 first-half lead on a 40-yard bomb that just caught the upper right-hand corner. Diane Schirmers (Prior Lake, Minn.) broke past St. Olaf goalie Kara Olson, and had nothing but open net to shoot at, only to have her shot clang off the cross bar.
"That was a huge turning point in the game," Blank said. "Instead of getting the equalizer, it just took all the momentum away from us.
"You certainly can't fault this team for a lack of effort," continued Blank, whose team returns to action Wednesday against UW-Stout. "But right now they are almost pressing too much, trying too hard. The problem is, the longer we go (without scoring and winning), the more pressure we put on ourselves.
"We need to just go out there and play relaxed."
When you are 1-7-0, however, that may be easier said than done.