ST. PAUL, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Terry Mannor was looking for a sign as to how Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Thomas was going to turn out, it only took 38 seconds for him to get it.

St. Thomas got a "gift" goal when Jenny Schnaible's shot bounced off an SMU defender and past Cardinal goalie Amanda Gage (Lino Lakes, Minn.) before the fans could even get comfortable in their seats.

And once the Tommies got started, they never let up, as UST scored four unanswered goals en route to a 4-1 win over the Cardinals.

"It was one of those games where all the bounces seemed to go (St. Thomas') way," said Mannor, whose team are now assured of fifth place in the MIAC standings and will be on the road — to either Hamline or St. Olaf – to open the conference playoffs on Tuesday. "(St. Thomas) got that fluke first goal and we just never seemed to recover.

"We played pretty well early in the second period, but then we started to hang back and give (the Tommies) too much space," Mannor added. "Against a team as talented as St. Thomas, you have to keep pressure on them at all times, and we didn't do that."

Ashley Reinhardt netted both Tommie goals in the second period, as UST outshot SMU 13-6 and outscored the Cardinals 2-0 to push their lead to 3-0.

Marie Oman made it 4-0 five minutes into the third period, before Angie Kryzer (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) finally got the Cardinals on the board with her third goal of the season at 16:21.

"St. Thomas is a very talented team, but they are also beatable," said Mannor, whose team closes out the regular season Saturday, playing host to the Tommies in the second game of their two-game series. "But in order to beat them, we have to respect (St. Thomas), but not feat them — and we have to play our game. If we come out and play the way we are capable, I really believe we can beat them."