Game Summary

ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season began in much the same fashion as the regular season for the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team — with a win.

The Cardinals pushed their season-opening winning streak to four straight Tuesday afternoon, scoring single goals in each half en route to a 2-0 win over Hamline in the teams' MIAC opener.

"We played very well — especially defensively," said SMU coach Tony Guinn, whose goalkeeper, Jennifer Johnson (Racine, Wis.) needed to make just two saves in posting the Cardinals' third shutout win of the season. "We didn't have a ton of scoring chances, but we capitalized on a couple of the ones we did and that was the difference."

Melissa Paulson (Ham Lake, Minn.) broke a scoreless tie with her first goal of the season at the 41:miniute mark, and Lisa Tlougan (Rochester, Minn.) gave the Cardinals an insurance goal early in the second half to ice the win.

"It's nice to get our conference season off on a solid note," said Guinn. "We're playing very well right now — but this is a tough stretch for us, playing four games six games, so hopefully we can keep it going."