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WINONA, Minn. — Rachel Gate-Vickery (New Brighton, Minn.) has made a name for herself as one of the top defenders in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference during her four-year career with the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team.

Saturday afternoon, it wasn't Gates-Vickery's ability to shut down the opponent's top offensive threat that was on display at Ochrymowycz Field — it was her goal-scoring, and goalkeeping abilities.

Gates-Vickery scored the game's first goal — her first of the season and first since her freshman season — and then, with the Cardinals clinging to a 2-0 lead late in the first, it was the senior's bicycle-kick save on a shot bound for the open SMU net that protected that two-goal lead and sparked Saint Mary's to a 3-1 MIAC win over St. Catherine.

“It was a great game, it feels good to see the ladies get rewarded for all the hard work they have put in,” said SMU coach Neil Cassidy, who picked up his first conference win as the Cardinals' head coach. “We had some things go our way for a change, and we took advantage of the opportunities we got.

“Give Rachel a lot of credit — she got us going with that goal early in the game, made a great save late in the first half, and was really solid defensively the entire game,” Cassidy added. “It was an outstanding performance all the way around.”

Gates-Vickery got the Cardinals offense jump-started early, belting a 35-yard bomb that eluded the outstretched arms of St. Catherine goalkeeper Abbey Hinton and found the back of the net in the game's fourth minute.

Kelsey Schneider (Portland, Ore.), who assisted on Gates-Vickery's goal, made it 2-0 17 minutes later, taking a feed from Katie Holmes (Edina, Minn.) and beating Hinton for her first goal of the season.

St. Catherine appeared to have closed the gap to 2-1 with two minutes remaining in the opening half, as Angela Cruz beat SMU goalkeeper Miranda Halling (Rochester, Minn.) with a shot from the top of the box, but Gates-Vickery chased the ball down before it crossed the goal line and using a bicycle kick, kept the Wildcats off the scoreboard.

“That was a big boost for us,” said Cassidy of Gates-Vickery's save. “To go into halftime with a two-goal lead — and the momentum, was huge. To go into the second half with a two-goal lead, rather than just being ahead by one goal, makes a big difference.”

The Wildcats did cut the gap to one midway through the second half, as Lindsey Voss lofted a shot over Halling, but the Cardinals quickly answered, getting a goal from Tessa Scanlon (Cologne, Minn.) off a corner kick from Ashley Gernes (Lake Elmo, Minn.) less than three minutes later to seal the win.

Halling finished with 11 saves for the Cardinals, who moved to 1-7-0 in the MIAC and 2-11-0 overall, while Hinton stopped three of the six shots she faced in goal for the Wildcats.

The Cardinals are back in action on Wednesday, stepping out of conference play to take on UW-Stevens Point in a 7 p.m. contest at Ochrymowycz Field.