Men's Soccer 10/15/05 -- St. Mary's 2, Augsburg 0 

BOXSCORE 

WINONA, Minn. (10/15/05) -- Eric Luzzi is a tough man to please. After his St. Mary's University men's soccer team posted its first shutout win of the season last Wednesday in a 2-0 win over St. Olaf, he called his team's play "good, but nothing spectacular."

Saturday afternoon, Luzzi said his team's play against Augsburg College was "scrappy and opportunistic -- but still not as good as we can play."

And that was after a second straight, 2-0 shutout victory in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game at Ochrymowycz Field.

Which must leave the Cardinals scratching their heads and wondering just what they have to do to please their head coach.

"I'm a tough man to please," said Luzzi. I know what this team is capable of, and I'm still waiting for us to put it all together -- solid offense and defense all at the same time."

While he's waiting for "perfection," however, Luzzi will take the effort -- and the wins.

St. Mary's is now 4-7-1 overall and 4-4-0 in MIAC play, while Augsburg is now 5-9-1 overall, 2-4-1 in MIAC play.

"The guys are playing their hearts out," said Luzzi, whose team has now won two straight for the first time this season. "Statistically, we were dominated -- just like we were (Wednesday) against St. Olaf. But our offense was opportunistic and our defense did a pretty good job of clearing the ball away.

"Augsburg is a very good team – they gave us everything we could handle from start to finish," said Luzzi, whose team avenged a 5-0 setback at the hands -- and feet -- of the Auggies a year ago. "It wasn't one of our best all-around games, but in this conference, you'll take a win any way you can get it."

Andy Neu (Fr., Inver Grove Heights, Minn./Simley HS) got the Cardinals on the board in the game's 15th minute, taking a feed from Mike Schmitt (Jr., Woodridge, Ill./Downers Grove North HS) and beating Augsburg goalkeeper Pascaul Venter (Fr., Rochester, Minn./John Marshall HS) to his right.

Joe Manley (So., Racine, Wis./Washington Park HS) gave SMU some breathing room, getting a fortunate bounce when Andy Kozar's (Sr., Libertyville, Ill./Carmel HS) shot clanked off the crossbar and right to his foot. Manley one-timed the ball past Venter and the Cardinals hung on for their fourth win of the season.

Augsburg outshot St. Mary's 16-8, and Venter picked up six saves for the Auggies. Alec Rabine (So., St. Louis Park, Minn.) had five shots for the Auggies, while Ryan Kitzman (Jr., Maple Grove, Minn./Osseo HS) had four shots.

Augsburg returns to action on Tuesday (10/18) at 3:30 p.m. with an MIAC game at Gustavus, while St. Mary's returns to action with a home game against St. John's on Saturday (10/22) at 3 p.m.