MANKATO, Minn. — Through the first six games of the season, Emily Loof (Colorado Springs, Colo.) has had the Midas Touch for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's soccer team.
 
Six games, five goals for the Cardinal freshman.
 
Make that seven games, eight goals.
 
Loof scored her team-leading sixth and seventh goals as part of a three-goal first half—then completed her first collegiate hat trick 10 minutes into the second half—as the Cardinals picked up their third win of the season, dropping Bethany Lutheran 7-1 in a nonconference game Tuesday evening.
 
Caroline Blackwood (Norwalk Va.) got the Cardinals on the board six minutes into the opening half, taking a feed from Emma Schaefer (Falcon Heights, Minn.) and beating BLC goalkeeper Elizabeth Olson. A minute later, Loof found the back of the net—again off an assist from Schaefer—to push Saint Mary's lead to 2-0.
 
The Vikings would cut the deficit to 2-1 on a goal by Nicole Moldstad in the game's 13th minute, but Loof had an answer, netting her second of the game with three minutes remaining in the first half to give Saint Mary's a 3-1 advantage at the break.
 
After picking up assists on the Cardinals' first two goals, Schaefer decided to get into the goal-scoring act, as the sophomore tallied her fourth goal of the season just five minutes into the second half.
 
And the Cardinals in general—and Loof in particular—weren't finished.
 
Loof, who already had two, two-goal games in a Cardinal uniform this season, completed her first collegiate hat trick 10 minutes into the second half to push the Saint Mary's advantage to 5-1.
 
Bethany Lutheran handed the Cardinals their sixth goal on a silver platter, deflecting a ball into their own net to make it a 6-1, before Bri Ashmore (Westminster, Colo.) collected her first of the season to round out the Saint Mary's scoring.
 
Miranda Halling (Rochester, Minn.), Victoria Perez (Upland, Calif.) and Sarah Sieracki (Schererville, Ind.) shared the goalkeeping duties for the Cardinals. Halling stopped two of the three shots she faced in the first half, while Perez made one save in 14:35 to start the second half, and Sieracki did not have to make a save in the game's final 30:25.
 
The Cardinals (3-4-0 overall)—who have now scored seven goals in a game twice this season—return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play on Saturday, traveling to St. Paul, Minn., for a 1 p.m. showdown with St. Thomas.