WINONA, Minn. — Terry Mannor knew before the game started, and he wanted to make sure his Saint Mary's University women's hockey team knew, too.

Earlier in the afternoon, Concordia earned a split in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against Augsburg, beating the Auggies 4-1. That Augsburg loss opened the door for the Cardinals to lock up a berth in the MIAC playoffs for the seventh straight time.

All the Cardinals had to do was beat Bethel Saturday night.

And that was one tidbit of information Mannor wanted to make sure to share with his team before they took the ice against the Royals.

Whether they needed to know beforehand or not, the Cardinals did exactly what they needed to do, scoring twice in the first period and adding three more third-period tallies en route to a 5-1 victory over the Royals — and that seventh straight conference tournament invitation.

"I'm a real believer in stating the obvious," said Mannor when asked why he told his team what was at stake Saturday night. "Some of the players were talking about (the playoff scenarios) and if some were talking about it, I wanted everyone to be on the same page.

"We knew what we had to do, and they went out there and took care of business, it's that simple."

Rachel Harrison (Madison, Wis.), who assisted on two of SMU's three goals in Friday's 3-3 tie vs. Bethel, got the Cardinals on the board early in the first period, netting an unassisted tally at 7:06.

Sara Eisenhauer (Kenosha, Wis.) made it 2-0 eight minutes later, taking a feed from Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) and rifling a slap shot from the blue line that beat Bethel goalie Beth Spurrier to the stick side.

The Royals cut the gap to 2-1, scoring the lone goal of the second period on a rebound Mairiam Pass, before the Cardinals' put the icing on their playoff-clinching cake with three goals in the third period. The Cardinals managed just seven shots in the final 20 minutes, but Laura Mueller (St. Paul, Minn.), Rebecca Jelenc (Sheboygan, Wis.) and Jill Rhody (St. Paul, Minn.) all made good use of theirs, beating Spurrier to lift SMU to its highest offensive output of the season.

"I thought we played a pretty solid game all the way around," said Mannor, whose team remains in fifth place, one point behind Hamline with their fourth conference win in their last six MIAC games (4-1-1). "I'm glad we were able to lock (the playoff berth) up tonight, it's one less thing we have to worry about heading into next weekend's games against St. Thomas.

"I'm proud of the way this team has battled all season," said Mannor, whose Cardinals opened MIAC play going 4-4-1 through their first nine games, before putting together their 4-1-1 mark over the last six contests. "Our seniors have done such a great job of leading this team, and for them to make it to the postseason all four years is a real accomplishment — something they should feel very proud about."