Game Summary / GameDay Preview

ST. PAUL, Minn. — Finally.

For the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team in general — and Amy Sibik (Onalaska, Wis.) in particular — that was the word of the day Saturday afternoon.

For SMU, Sibik's second-half goal finally got the Cardinals on the board, breaking a scoreless tie and leading them to a 2-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Hamline.

And for Sibik, that tally in the game's 56th minute finally got the senior forward over the 100 career-point plateau — a milestone she had been trying to reach for the past four games.

“It was great to see Amy get that goal, she's had a great career and to reach 100 career point is quite an accomplishment,” said SMU coach Eric Zimmerman of Sibik, who became just the sixth player in SMU women's soccer history to record 100 or more career points. “That goal seemed to give us the spark we needed, too. It certainly came at an opportune time for us.”

After battling to a 0-0 deadlock through the game's opening 45 minutes, Sibik finally broke the ice, while Kelsey Peyton (Excelsior, Minn.) gave the Cardinals some breathing room with her first goal of the season 16 minutes later.

Cassie Hulett (Milwaukee, Wis.) collected her league-leading seventh shutout of the season, stopping all three Piper shots, while HU goalkeeper Liz Stock stopped six of the eight SMU shots she faced.

With the win, the Cardinals not only improve to 4-3-1 in the MIAC, but they also remain in the hunt for one of the conference's four post-season tournament berths. SMU is currently sitting in sixth place, just two points behind Macalester and St. Thomas for the fourth and final playoff spot with three conference games remaining — including a showdown with the Tommies on Oct. 30.

“At this stage of the season, every win is big,” said Zimmerman, whose team is back in action Saturday, playing host to St. Benedict in a 5 p.m. contest at Ochrymowycz Field. “We came out a little slow today, but seemed to pick things up a bit as the game went on. We've put ourselves in a good position, now we have to go out and keep playing solid soccer.”