CARSON, Calif. – Fueled by another goal from All-Region forward Brandon Madsen, and a combined effort by the Saints' back line, Saint Martin's blanked Cal State Dominguez Hills 1-0 to begin their California trip.
 
The GNAC Defensive Player of the Week, Griffin Small, put on quite an encore to last week's 14 save performance, recording his first clean sheet of the season. Madsen scored his second goal of the season and 18th of his career, putting him in a tie for fourth most in school history with Ruben Orozco.
 
In the opening half, the Saints quickly started applying offensive pressure to the Toros' defense, with Oscar Aguilar and Madsen taking shots in the first four minutes. After trading shots back and forth for the next 20 minutes, the Saints found the first opening. Madsen, who already had the Saints' lone goal on the season, added to this season total. The junior connected on a ball just outside the box, into the lower left side of the goal. Griffin Small completed another clean half to put SMU up 1-0 at the break.
 
Madsen and the Saints' offense continued the attack in the second half, with shots from Will Eldred and Alexis Lopez. Saint Martin's back line and Small remained strong through the first 25 minutes, only allowing three shots, and making two saves.
 
In the final 20 minutes of the match, the Toros threw everything they had at the Saints' defense, forcing four shots and four corner kicks. Despite the pressure, led by Small, the Saints' defense bent but did not break, locking down the 1-0 victory.

"First and foremost, Dominguez Hills has some really nice pieces and is a very good team," said head coach Rob Walker. "The fact that they drummed us a little bit with the numbers of corners (17-0) that they won speaks to the amount of pressure that they are able to put on an opponent. Having said that, this win is big for us, as it was not only a gritty effort, but we put some tactical pieces together that really worked. Mostly though, we have to congratulate all of our guys for their effort and their attitude and their performance. We couldn't have asked for a better way to start this road trip."
 
Small faced 17 shots during match, stopping all five shots on goal, and recorded his first clean sheet of the 2018 campaign. Madsen, once again, led the Saints in offensive, taking six shots, two on goal, and none bigger than the one in the 38th minute. Aguilar, Sebastian Navarro, Lopez, and Eldred all finished with two shots each.
 
The Saints continue their tour of California with a stop in San Marcos on Saturday. SMU faces the Cougars of CSU San Marcos at 3:00 p.m. Live stats and video links available on smusaints.com.