ST. PAUL, Minn.— For the second game in a row, the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team was in a "clinching" mood Wednesday evening.
 
Just four days after locking up the first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference post-season berth in program history, the Cardinals — fueled by Wednesday's 1-0 victory over Macalester — guaranteed themselves a home playoff game.
 
Saint Mary's, which didn't get any help in its quest for its first regular-season conference title since 1991— thanks to league-leading St. Catherine and No. 2 Saint Benedict both winning — remains in third place in the league standings with one game to play, and are assured of no worse than a No. 4 seed in next week's conference tournament.
 
And, most importantly, a coveted home game.
 
The Cardinals slim conference-title hopes will come down to the final weekend of the regular season. Saint Mary's closes out the regular-season on Friday, hosting St. Scholastica in a 6:30 p.m. contest at Ochrymowycz Field. A win over the Saints, and a St. Catherine loss and a loss or tie by Saint Benedict will give SMU its first regular-season crown since 1991. 
 
Haddy Falkman (Waconia, Minn.) and Alexis Nguyen (West Corvina, Calif.) proved to be the perfect 1-2 punch for the Cardinals in Wednesday's win over Macalester, as Falkman scored the game's only goal in the 13th minute, and Nguyen returned from an injury that sidelined her for three games to record a three-save shutout.
 
With the victory, Saint Mary's improved to 7-2-1 in conference play and 13-3-1 overall. The seven conference wins are the most since 1995, when the Cardinals went 7-2-1, while SMU's 13 overall victories are the most since the 2005 team finished 13-5-0.