Game Summary

DUBUQUE, Iowa — For the first two games of the season, the Saint Mary's University men's soccer team was unstoppable — erupting for 10 goals in a season-opening 10-1 win over Rockford, then following that up with a 4-1 triumph over North Central.

As potent as the SMU offense was in those two games, however, the Cardinals' sharpshooters fired nothing but blanks Tuesday evening. Loras handed the Cardinals their first loss of the season, as the Duhawks scored once in the first half and twice more in the second en route to a 3-0 nonconference victory.

"Loras is a very good team," said SMU coach Chris Dembiec. "They just physically beat us all over the field – they were faster and stronger and we just weren't able to overcome that."

The Duhawks, who won a school-record 18 games en route to the Iowa Conference Tournament title and a berth in the NCAA Division III Sweet 16 — held the Cardinals in check all evening, netting the game's first goal less than 25 minutes into the opening half, then added two more goals in the game's final 45 minutes en route to their second win in three outings this season.

"We did a pretty good job of staying with them, and we did come up with some pretty solid scoring opportunities — we just weren't able to take advantage of them," said Dembiec. "The problem was, you make one mistake and they came at you with that speed and strength.

"It was just too much."

Despite the loss, Dembiec is confident the Cardinals learned their lesson — a lesson he hopes will pay big dividends when his team returns to the field Friday for its home opener against Carthage.

"I think we learned a lot from this game," Dembiec said. "This was a great test for us, and I'm confident we will rebound and be that much better (on Friday)."