COLLEGEVILLE, Minn. — All season long,
Jon Szafranski (Barrington, Ill.) has been the team’s defensive leader, boasting a 1.67 goals-against-average, while stopping 104 shots through the Saint Mary’s University men’s soccer teams first 14 games.
And Saturday afternoon, the senior goalkeeper was at it again.
Only this time, he pulled double-duty.
Not only did Szafranski stop every shot Saint John’s sent his way, but he also proved to be the Cardinals’ biggest offensive weapon, as his punt-pass hit
Juamaine Venter (Rochester, Minn.) in stride, and the Cardinal junior did the rest, beating SJU goalkeeper Luke Nelson with the game’s only goal with 45 seconds remaining in double overtime to lift the Cardinals to the 1-0 conference win.
“What a great win,” said SMU coach Chris Dembiec, whose team not only snapped a seven-game (0-6-1) conference winless streak, but also picked up its first win at Saint John's since Oct. 31, 1992. “To play as well as we did — on the road — it’s was just a great performance all the way around.”
A great performance that ended with a great play — by a great player.
“Jon’s tried that play before, and today, it worked to perfection,” said Dembiec of Szafranski's first-ever collegiate assist. “The entire overtime was just back-and-forth. It was like a tennis match — they were in front of our net, we were in front of their net — Jon saw that SJU had numbers up and lofted a perfect punt that bounced once over the defender’s head and Juamaine ran right to it.
“It was a great play — and it could not have come at a better time.”
The Cardinals, who improve to 5-8-2 overall with the win, are back in action Sunday, traveling to UW-Platteville for a 3 p.m. nonconference showdown against the Pioneers.