By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
MENDOTA HEIGHTS, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University and St. Thomas squared off in their two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference regular-season series in January, the Cardinals managed a combined two goals in those two contests against the Tommies.
That was then.
This is now.
Saint Mary's equaled that January offensive performance — in the first period — when the two teams squared off Thursday in the opening round of the MIAC Tournament at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.
And two goals would have been more than enough, but the fifth-seeded Cardinals wanted more, scoring two more goals in the third period and riding the stellar goaltending of junior
Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.) to a 4-1 victory over the host Tommies.
With the win the Cardinals accomplished three things:
• They snapped a four-game losing streak against the Tommies.
• They put an end to a six-game postseason losing streak — dating back to a 3-1 win over Augsburg on March 1, 2005.
• And they earned a spot opposite top-seeded and regular-season champion Gustavus in Saturday's MIAC Tournament semifinals.
The Cardinals and Gusties will square off at 2 p.m. at Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., while No. 3 Augsburg will face No. 2 Hamline in the other semifinal at TRIA Rink in St. Paul, Minn.
Delaney Wolf (Bismarck, N.D.) kicked things off for the Cardinals, scoring her fourth goal of the season, off an assist from
Sophia Zebro (Oak Grove, Minn.), midway through the opening period.
It appeared as if the Cardinals would take that one-goal advantage into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes — but
Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) had other ideas, scoring her team-leading 13th of the year with 36 seconds on the clock to give Saint Mary's a 2-0 cushion heading into the break.
St. Thomas cut the Cardinal lead in half with the only goal of the second period, as Kate Winiecki beat Saint Mary's goalie
Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.) to make it 2-1 heading into the game's final 20-minute period.
Carson Sheridan (Waunakee, Wis.) gave the Cardinals a little breathing room, beating UST goalie Eryn Cooley three minutes into the third period — and
Kayla Henning (Burnsville, Minn.) iced the playoff victory with an empty-net goal with 58 seconds to play.
While the Cardinal offense was doing its part at one end, Ziakas was doing hers at the other, stopping 29 of the 30 Tommie shots she's faced. The effort marked the third straight game in which Ziakas has allowed just one goal — lowering her goals-against-average to XXXX heading into Saturday's showdown with Gustavus.
