WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team begins its final MIAC playoff push Friday evening, as the Cardinals host St. Olaf in a 7 p.m. game at the SMU Ice Arena.





The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (8-5-3 MIAC / 12-9-3 Overall)
vs. St. Olaf Oles (9-5-2 MIAC / 10-11-2 Overall)

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Last Action:
The Cardinals dropped both games of their two-game conference series against league-leading Gustavus last weekend, falling 4-2 in St. Peter, Minn., on Friday, then dropping a 3-0 decision Saturday afternoon at the SMU Ice Arena. … St. Olaf, meanwhile, picked up a pair of key conference wins last weekend, as the Oles outscored Saint Benedict 13-2 in beating the Blazers 5-1 in St. Cloud, Minn., on Friday, then routing CSB 8-1 in the rematch Saturday in Northfield, Minn.

Earlier This Year:
January 15, 2011: Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) scored the Cardinals' lone goal, as St. Olaf raced out to a 3-0 lead and cruised to a 5-1 nonconference victory over SMU at the SMU Ice Arena.

A Year Ago:
February 26, 2010: Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn.) scored SMU's lone goal and Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) finished with 27 saves, as the Cardinals battled St. Olaf to a 1-1 tie at the SMU Ice Arena.

February 27, 2010: The Cardinlas scored just one goal against St. Olaf for the second straight day, but Erin Stenseth's (Eau Claire, Wis.) second-period tally was all they would need, as SMU beat St. Olaf 1-0 — and, more importantly, locked up the No. 4 seed in the MIAC playoffs and a home date against, who else? St. Olaf.

March 2, 2010: St. Olaf scored once in the first period and twice more in the second and held on for a 3-1 MIAC playoff victory over the Cardinals at the SMU Ice Arena.

Up Next:
The Cardinals and Oles close out their regular-season schedules on Saturday with the second game of their two-game conference series. Puck drops at 3 p.m. in Northfield, Minn.

Playoff Picture:
Gustavus (11-2-2) and St. Thomas (10-4-2) have already locked up MIAC playoff spots, while the Cardinals and Oles enter the final weekend of the regular-season battling for playoff position, With their two wins last weekend over Saint Benedict, St. Olaf (9-5-2) leapfrogged over SMU and into a tie for third place with Bethel, while the Cardinals (8-4-3) holding down the fifth and final playoff spot, one point behind the Oles and Royals, and one point in front of Concordia. … Bethel closes out its regular season with two games against Hamline (3-11-2), while Concordia squares off against St. Thomas (10-4-2).

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
SMU's 3-0 loss to league-leading Gustavus last Saturday marked just the second time this season the Cardinals have failed to score at least one goal. … The Cardinals enter Friday's game against St. Olaf 4-3 in their last seven games. … Last Friday's 4-2 setback against Gustavus dropped SMU to 1-4-3 in its eight Friday conference contests. … Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) and Brooke Bartelt (New Prague, Minn.) scored for the Cardinals against Gustauvs Friday. It was Olson's ninth goal of the season, and the second of the year for Bartelt. … Olson comes Friday's game against St. Olaf with team highs in assists (13) and points (22), whie Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Island, Mich.) — who assisted on both Cardinal goals last Friday — boasts a team-best 10 goals. … SMU has four players — Olson (22), Coolsaet (16), Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis. / 15) and Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn. / 11) — with 10 or more points. … Stenseth leads the team with three game-winning goals — including the OT game-winner in SMU's 2-1 victory over St. Thomas on Jan. 29. … Twenty-three of the Cardinals' 54 goals this season have come from freshmen. … Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) kicked out 35 Gustavus shots in Saturday's 3-0 loss, while Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) finished with 34 saves vs. the Gusties last Friday night — including 18 in the third period. … Gustafson enters Friday's game vs. St. Olaf with a 1.83 goals-against-average and a .946 save percentage, while Collier owns a 2.04 GAA, a .923 save percentage and a team-leading seven wins. … SMU has scored first in 12 of its 23 games, going 11-0-1. SMU is 0-9-2 when its opponent scores first. … The Cardinals opened the season with three straight wins. SMU's 3-0-0 start was its first since going 4-0-0 to open the 1999-2000 season — the program's second year of existence | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics

St. Olaf Oles News and Notes:
The Oles enter this weekend's games against Saint Mary's riding a five-game winning streak. St. Olaf is also 8-2-1 in its last 11 games. … St. Olaf has outscored its opponents 24-7 during its current five-game winning streak. … St. Olaf's eight goals vs. Saint Benedict on Saturday were a season high. … Meghan Stumpf scored a pair of goals and Kristen Latta had two assists to fuel the Oles' offense in last Friday's 5-1 win over Saint Benedict, while Nicole Stumpf, Christina Benjamin and Katie Iraci each had two goals in Saturday's 8-1 win over CSB. … Iraci and Nicole Stumpf share the team lead in goals with nine each, while Iraci also leads the team with 16 points. … Latta and Alison Umland are the team's assist leaders with 11 each. … St. Olaf boasts eight players — Iraci (16), Nicole Stumpf (14), Latta (14), Meghan Stumpf (13), Umland (13), Marogt Fleming (12), Alex Mayer (11) and Taylor Orr (11) — with 10 or more points. … St. Olaf's 64 goals have come from 16 different players, while 18 Oles have recorded at least one point. … Jessica Ptachick and Erin McNamara have shared the majority of the goaltending duties, with Ptachick owning a 2.63 goals-against-average and a .931 save percentage — while also being in goal for nine of the team's 10 wins — while McNamara has a 3.55 GAA and an .884 save percentage. … The Oles are 8-4-1 when scoring first and 2-7-1 when their opponent nets the game's first goal | 2010-2011 Overall Statistics