ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's soccer team entered its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener against St. Thomas having scored 24 goals in its first five games of the season.
 
The defending conference champion Tommies, however, wouldn't let the Cardinals' high-octane offense get shifted out of neutral Tuesday.
 
St. Thomas held Saint Mary's to just one shot on goal—and no goals—in dealing the Cardinals a 2-0 setback at South Field.
 
Mallory DeBoom got the Tommies on the board in the 10^th minute, firing a shot past Saint Mary's goalkeeper Gabriella Pederson (Chaska, Minn.) for her third goal of the season—and an early 1-0 UST lead.
 
St. Thomas would maintain just that slim one-goal lead through the rest of the half, and eight minutes into the second half—thanks in large part to Pederson, who made several outstanding saves to keep it a 1-0 game.
 
The Tommies were able to sneak a second goal past the Cardinal sophomore in the 53^rd minute, when McKenna Peplinski notched her first goal of the season to push the St. Thomas advantage to 2-0.
 
Pederson, who closed out a stellar freshman season a year ago with eight games of eight of more saves—including a career-high 11 saves against Carleton on Oct. 29 and a pair of 10-save efforts—made 10 saves against the high-powered Tommies.
 
The Cardinals (0-1-0 MIAC, 4-2-0 overall) return home to Ochrymowycz Field on Saturday, entertaining St. Olaf in a 3:30 p.m. conference game.