LACEY, Wash. – The Saints began their 2022 campaign with a convincing 3-1 home win over Colorado Mesa.
 
After giving up a goal early in the match, Saint Martin's (1-0-0, 0-0-0) kept their composure and responded with a goal by freshman Maria Pagnotta to tie the game in the first half and two more unanswered goals by sophomore Ellison Kephart and sophomore Brianna Yamada in the second half.
 
The Mavericks (0-1-0, 0-0-0) put the pressure on early and found the back of the net in the ninth minute of the match. SMU got more familiar with their opponent and in the 23rd minute Pagnotta tied the game with a shot that was just beyond the keeper's reach to tie the game up 1-1.
 
In the second half, the match was tightly contested until Kephart snuck one past the Colorado Mesa goalkeeper in the 71st to give the Saints the lead late in the match. The Mavericks tried to gain some momentum and tie the match but Yamada's goal in the 83rd was the insurance goal for SMU that sealed their 3-1 victory.
 
Junior goalkeeper Soph Mendoza was exceptional in goal with 12 total saves in the match including a couple of promising breakaway opportunities for the Mavericks that Mendoza shut the door on and kept the momentum on the Saints' side.
 
The Saints will be traveling up to Burnaby, BC for their next match as they play a neutral site game against Metro State Denver this Sunday, August 28 at 10am. Live stats and video will be available on smusaints.com.