Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The end result should have been a no-brainer: The Saint Mary's University women's soccer team had everything to play for — two wins, and a little help, and the Cardinals had an outside shot at qualifying for the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Tournament.

Visiting Bethel, meanwhile, had absolutely nothing to play for — the Royals were winless in their first nine conference games, managing just a pair of ties to go along with seven losses.

And easy SMU win, right?  Wrong.

The Royals, playing like they were the ones with playoff aspirations, scored a pair of first-half goals in upsetting the Cardinals — and officially eliminate SMU from the MIAC playoff picture.

"You've got to give (Bethel) a lot of credit. They came in here with nothing to play for and played a great game," said SMU coach Tony Guinn, whose team has now lost back-to-back games for just the second time this season. "They played with a lot of pride and I tip my hat to them."

It didn't help that the Cardinals picked the worst possible time to have an off day.

"We did not play well, there's not question about that," said Guinn, whose team could only sandwich a Bridgette Baggio (Glenview, Ill.) goal between goals from Bethel's Lauren Johnson and Maria Sanny in falling to 5-5-0 in MIAC play this season. "We had a lot to play for — we just didn't come out and play the way we needed to play. We were flat from start to finish and it cost us."

The Cardinals close out the season on Saturday, playing host to St. Catherine in a 1 p.m. MIAC contest.

"This is a tough loss, but we've still got a lot to play for," said Guinn, noting that Saturday's game will be the collegiate finale for seniors Anne Suddendorf (Excelsior, Minn.), Courtney Gibson (Woodbury, Minn.) and Mandy Downing (Mendota Heights, Minn.). "Hopefully we can come out and give them a nice send-off."