WINONA, Minn. — With a post-season invitation already tucked safely away in their back pocket, the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team entered its regular-season finale against St. Scholastica still holding out hopes of earning their first conference crown since 1991.
 
To earn that elusive regular-season title, however, the Cardinals would need a win over the Saints — and a lot of help when the rest of the conference closed out their schedules on Saturday.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, there would be no need for Saturday help, as St. Scholastica eliminated Saint Mary's from title contention with a 2-1 victory at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
Despite the loss, just Saint Mary's second conference setback of the season, one thing is guaranteed — the Cardinals will still be playing soccer when the calendar turns to November. Saint Mary's, as the No. 3 seed, will host the No. 6 seed in an MIAC Tournament quarterfinal game at 6 p.m. Monday evening at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
The Cardinals, who had only allowed five goals in their first 10 conference games, could never seem to get its game on track in the first half against the Saints — and found themselves staring at just its second 2-0 deficit of the season at the halftime intermission.
 
Ella Stritesky got the Saints on the board just eight minutes into the first half, lofting a shot over the outstretched arms of Cardinal goalkeeper Alexis Nguyen (West Corvina, Calif.) and into the net for a 1-0 CSS lead.
 
The Saints tacked on their second goal of the half in the 35^th minute, as Kayla Quam hit a low laser that eluded win at gave St. Scholastica a commanding two-goal advantage at the break.
 
Saint Mary's cut the deficit to one, 2-1, early in the second half, as Haddy Falkman (Waconia, Minn.) netted her team-leading 10^th of the season off an assist from Kassie Arriaga (Chula Vista, Calif.)
 
The Cardinal offense threatened several times over the game's final 35 minutes, but they could not net the equalizer in falling to 7-3-1 in conference play.
 
Saint Mary's, which takes a 13-4-1 overall record into next week's post-season tournament, will now have to wait until Saturday evening — after the rest of the conference has completed its regular-season games — to see who they will face on Monday.