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WINONA, Minn. — You could not write a better script.

In fact, if Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Terry Mannor hadn't seen it with his own eyes, he would have sworn it was something straight out of Hollywood.

Through the first 22 games of her senior season, Julianne Bartosz (Mokena, Ill.) had recorded just two assists.

But Saturday afternoon, Bartosz, playing in her final collegiate game as a Cardinal, scored her first goal of the season — and her first since her freshman year — with less than a minute to go in the first period to give SMU a 2-1 advantage over playoff-bound Bethel.

But wait, that's just the opening act.

Fueled by Bartosz's late first-period goal, the Cardinals added two more in the second — the first assisted by the Cardinal senior — as SMU wrote the picture-perfect ending with a 4-3 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win at the SMU Ice Arena.

“You can't write them like that,” joked Mannor after the game. “It was great to see Julie get that goal — on Senior Day — but it was also great to see the entire team bounce back from (Friday's) loss and put together three solid periods of hockey.

“It was a little closer than I would have liked down the stretch, but they got the job done.”

After giving up four first-period goals in Friday's 6-2 loss to the Royals, the Cardinals turned the tables on the Royals on Saturday, as Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Ile, Mich.) got SMU on the board first, netting her second goal in as many nights just 2:46 into the opening stanza.

Bethel answered midway through the period, as Cristina Masten knotted things at 1-1 with her 21st goal of the season midway thorough the opening period. But the opportunistic Cardinals took advantage of a late Royals' penalty, with Bartosz putting SMU ahead for good with 53 seconds remaining in the period.

Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) pushed SMU's lead to 3-1, taking a feed from Bartosz and beating BU goalie Erika Allen at the 9:31 mark of the second period, and, six minutes later, it was Kelly Seymour's (Aurora, Ill.) turn, as the sophomore netted her first collegiate goal to push the Cardinal advantage to 4-1 heading into the final period.

Like any well-written script, Saturday's performance had to have a villain, and Bethel in general — and Marsten in particular — certainly filled the bill.

Lindsay Burman cut Bethel within two, 4-2, with her 10th of the season seven minutes into the final period, and Marsten added her second of the game — and fifth of the weekend — four minutes later to make it a one-goal game.

Thanks to some late-game heroics by SMU goalie Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) — who made nine third-period saves, including stopping BU's Kalie Johnson a breakaway with five minutes remaining — it would remain a one-goal game.

And a season-ending Cardinal victory.

“I thought after the first period, we played very well (on Friday), and we just picked up where we left off today,” said Mannor, whose Cardinals close out their season 5-11-2 in conference play and 7-14-2 overall. “It's nice to end the season with a win — especially on Senior Day.”