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Botz battles for the ball
Jeremy Becker
9
Winner Saint Mary's SMU (3-2-0 Overall)
0
North Central (MN) NCU (1-6-0 Overall)
Winner
Saint Mary's SMU
(3-2-0 Overall)
9
Final
0
North Central (MN) NCU
(1-6-0 Overall)
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 F
Saint Mary's SMU 3 6 9
North Central (MN) NCU 0 0 0

Game Recap: Men's Soccer |

Mugisha makes first career start; Rams drop non-conference match to the Cardinals

MINNEAPOLIS -- North Central University hosted the Cardinals of Saint Mary's University (SMU) on Thursday afternoon in a non-conference match-up. The Cardinals, a tough Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) member, were impressive in the early going, taking a 3-0 lead into halftime. Coming out of the break, Saint Mary's used another quick start to pull away from the Rams en route to a 9-0 victory on Elliot Park Field.

Game Vitals

  • SMU scored 4 goals in the span of 4 minutes and 50 seconds
  • SMU recorded 23 shots (15 on goal)
  • Rams fall to 1-6 with the loss
Game Recap
The Cardinal were aggressive out of the gate, constantly putting pressure on Ram's defenders. North Central attempted to fill the defensive box, hoping to muddy the vision of the Saint Mary's attackers. NCU was able to thwart a few early scoring attempts, but after clearing attempt went awry, the Cardinals capitalized, leaking through the Ram's defense for a goal in the 4th minute. After finding the back of the net once, the Cardinals seemed to have a nose for points. SMU found the back of the net two more times in the waning minutes of the 1st period to take a 3-0 lead into the break. The Cardinals started the second half with a goal scoring fury, netting 4 goals in the first 5 minutes of the second period. With the Rams searching for some offensive momentum, the Cardinal's offense continued to click. SMU added tacked on two more goals in the final 40 minutes to take the UMAC/MIAC matchup by a score of 9-0.

Head Coach Brian Li had nothing but respect for the Cardinal's afterwards:

"We knew they were a quality opponent coming in and we expected a tough matchup, they absolutely proved that for 90 minutes. For us it is about improvement day by day we are on the tail end of the toughest non-conference schedule that Men's Soccer has played in a number of years, and feel that this stretch will pay dividends as we our conference schedule."

Next Up
The Rams will be back in back in action on Saturday afternoon as they are set to travel to Mankato, Minn. to take on Bethany Lutheran College. Kickoff for the marquee matchup is slated for 3:30 p.m.

MEDIA: If you need further information, please feel free to contact Mike Knipe at 612-343-3541, or email mjknipe@northcentral.edu.
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