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2005 Record:
2-3-0 MIAC, 9-3-0 Overall
Last Week's Results:
St. Thomas 1, Saint Mary's 0 (2 OTs) / Details
Upcoming Events:
Tues., Oct. 11: SMU at St. Olaf, 4 p.m.
Sat., Oct. 15: Augsburg at SMU, 2 p.m.
This and That:
After playing 10 of its first 11 games on the road, SMU plays five of its last seven games at home. … SMU's double-overtime loss to St. Thomas was its first OT game of the season. … SMU coach Tony Guinn is now 0-2-2 in overtime games — all of which have gone into a second OT. … After scoring 19 goals in opening the season 8-0-0, the Cardinals have managed just two — both in a 2-0 win vs. Gustavus — in their last four games. … Jennifer Johnson (Racine, Wis.) stopped 14 of the 15 shots she faced vs. St. Thomas and currently boasts a 0.54 goals-against-average. … Five of the seven goals SMU has allowed have come in the first half. … Twelve of SMU's 21 goals have come in the second half.


101 minutes of airtight defense not quite enough as
SMU suffers heartbreaking double-OT loss to UST
Who's Hot?

Jennifer
Johnson
14 saves
vs. UST
WINONA, Minn. — Through the first eight games of the season, the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team enjoyed more than its fair share of the thrill of victory.

Over the last four games, however, there hasn't been much thrill of victory — and there's been far too much agony of defeat.

And last Saturday's game against St. Thomas proved to be the most agonizing of them all.

The Cardinals lost back-to-back games for the first time this season, as St. Thomas' Sarah Balgord scored in the second minute of the second overtime to lift the Tommies to a 1-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over SMU at Ochrymowycz Field.

"Losing in overtime is always tough," said SMU coach Tony Guinn, whose team was playing just its second home game of the season. "And to lose in overtime on your home field is even tougher. You want to play well in front of your home fans — and I think we did that today — it's just disappointing to lose in overtime like that."

The Tommies threatened to end the game with five minutes remaining in regulation, but SMU goalkeeper Jennifer Johnson (Racine, Wis.) came up with the biggest of her 14 saves on a point-blank shot by St. Thomas' Sarah Balgord, and Stephanie Paasch's rebound shot caromed off the cross bar to keep the game scoreless.

Neither team managed any offensive attacks in the first OT, and, just two minutes into the second extra session, Balgord ended things, taking a feed from Abagail Krause and beating Johnson with a shot into the left-hand corner.

After scoring 19 goals in opening their season with a perfect 8-0-0 record, the Cardinals' offense has gone into premature hibernation over the last two weeks as SMU has managed just two goals — both in a 2-0 win over Gustavus on Sept. 28 — in its last four games.

"You can't ask any more of our defense," said Guinn, whose team has allowed just seven goals in 12 games. "To keep a team like St. Thomas off the scoreboard for 101 minutes, what more can you ask?

"We're just struggling to get our offense back on track," continued Guinn, whose team was playing its first overtime game of the season, and its first first a 2-1, double-overtime loss to Carleton on Oct. 12, 2004. "We had some good opportunities to score (vs. UST), we just didn't convert.

"We just weren't able to step up to the challenge offensive."