That roll was killed at Bloomington by a team that Bruins coach Sam Gallo described simply as "the big rhinoceros", as Santa Monica remained undefeated with a 7-0 victory.
The Vikings (24-0-1) opened up the game in a six-minute span toward the middle of the first half, scoring four goals in six minutes. They added a fifth right before halftime, sealing off any chance of a titanic Bloomington comeback.
"There are Division I college teams that don't finish off as well as those guys do," Gallo said. "Usually in high school soccer, especially at Division IV level, a team might have one guy who can finish, two if they are lucky. They have six.
"It was just too much to deal with. They are like a Joe Namath - they are cocky but back it up."
Bloomington is used to making comebacks, as it overcame a 1-4-1 start in the Sunkist League with four straight wins to qualify for the playoffs, where it won its first two games.
But the Bruins (12-11-3) couldn't deal with the haymakers that Santa Monica dealt between the 18th and 24th minutes. The Vikings barrage started on a penalty kick goal by Charlie Paris after Eduardo Delgado was fouled in the penalty box by Byron Medina.
That opened up the floodgates, with Alessandro Canale scoring two minutes later, Orhan Basak knocking one in two minutes after that and Delgado scoring two minutes after Basak's goal.
"I think we got down after that penalty kick and got a little lax," Gallo said. "We were a little intimidated and scared and they took advantage."
Ricardo Martinez notched Santa Monica's fifth goal right before the end of the first half, with Paris and Canale each adding their second goal in the final half.
"We knew we had to come in here early and take control," Santa Monica coach James Chapman said.
"They came in hot and were at home, so we wanted to come in and jump on them quick. We were aggressive and finished remarkably well."