Winona, Minn. – Despite an early red card that reduced the home side to ten men, the St. Mary's University Cardinals held out for a 2-1 victory in the season opener for the men's soccer team.  Coach Forsythe's squad drops their opener, but looked extremely competitive as they welcomed a host of new faces into the team. 

Things kicked off early in this one as St. Mary's Cerim Palislamovic was sent off on six minutes for violent conduct after he struck a Crown player in the face. 

The Polars piled on plenty of pressure with the man advantage but found themselves down 1-0 as the Cardinals scored on the counter in the 17^th minute. Crown matched St. Mary's shots on target in the first half, as each team mustered two attempts on goal, but trailed at the break by the single goal. 

St. Mary's doubled their lead in the 49^th minute on a penalty kick to make the score 2-0.
Crown fought back with their first goal of the season as Juan Fernando Arriaga scored in the 56^th minute. Despite continued pressure in an evenly matched game, Crown wasn't able to close the gap further as the match finished 2-1 in favor of the Cardinals.

Crown finished with 12 shots, six on target, and won six corner kicks, threatening to the last second to find an equalizer. 
The Polars are back in action on Saturday with a home exhibition against Providence, and NCCAA opponent from Canada. Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.