BLAINE, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team entered this weekend's two-game Minnesota intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against Bethel hoping to take a giant step toward clinching their seventh straight conference playoff berth.

There were no giant steps Friday evening, but the Cardinals did inch closer.

SMU rallied from a 2-0 first-period hole, scoring three times in the second period, before settling for a 3-3 tie vs. the Royals at the Schwan's Super Rink.

"We came out pretty sluggish and fell behind 2-0 before the first period was even half over," said SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team is currently holding down the fifth and final conference playoff spot — boasting a three-point lead over Bethel and Augsburg with three games left to play. "But I thought we picked things up a bit in the second period and played pretty well from then on.

"We were hoping to come in here and pick up two points, but the tie doesn't hurt us — it gets us one step closer to where we want to be at the end of the (regular) season."

Bethany Murphy beat SMU goalie Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) twice in the game's first 10 minutes, as SMU spotted the Royals a 2-0 first-period advantage. But the Cardinals came roaring back in the second period, getting goals from Jill Rhody (St. Paul, Minn.), Jessica Ribish (Elm Grove, Wis.) and Amy Madden (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) — Madden's with one second remaining in the period — to grab a 3-2 advantage.

The Royals managed to knot the game at 3-3 seven minutes into the third period, and that was all the offense either team would generate.

"I'm proud of the way we battled back," said Mannor, whose team remains winless (0-12-1) when their opponent scores first. "For some reason, we just have not started games well of late. Hopefully we can turn that around (in Saturday's rematch at the SMU Ice Arena)."