St. Louis - Sander Heieren netted a pair of goals while Christian Kjaersgaard kept his shutout streak alive as the Maryville Saints men's soccer team defeated McKendree 4-0 Tuesday afternoon. This is the first time since 1998 that the Saints have posted three consectutive shutouts victories. The Saints defeated Wisconsin-Parkside and Lewis by identical 2-0 scores over the weekend.
 
Heieren opened up the scoring in the 12th minute by slotting a hard shot from the right wing to give Maryville a 1-0 lead. Bill Stimac earned his first assist of the year on the goal. Maryville outshot McKendree (2-6-2, 1-6-2 GLVC) 5-3 in the first half with two of those shot being on frame.
 
The Saints continued to apply pressure to the McKendree defense as Helmut Florencia scored his team-high sixth goal of the year off a touch pass from Kevin Doherty in the 47th minute to take a 2-0 advantage. Heieren capped off his day with his third goal of the year off a free kick that drove the Bearcat goalkeeper into the net in the 68th minute from 35-yards out to add to the Saints lead. Chris Naunheim finished out the scoring with a shot that was lofted over the keeper's head in the 81st minute to secure the win.
 
Kjaersgaard, the reigning GLVC Defensive Player of the Week, continued his solid play in the net with one sterling save on the afternoon to earn his fourth shutout on the year. The clean sheet moved him into a tie for third on the all-time shutouts list at 11 with Scott Schutte, who played for the Saints between 1994-1997.

The Saints improved to 8-5-0 and 5-5-0 in the Great Lakes Valley Conference with the victory. The eight wins mark the most triumphs in a single season for a Saints men's soccer team in the Division II era.
 
Maryville returns to the pitch Friday, Oct. 14, as the Saints travel to Saint Joseph's College for a GLVC match-up. Game time is set 2:30 p.m.