ST. PETER, Minn. — Genesis Capacio (Las Vegas, Nev.) could not have picked a more opportune time to net her first goal of the season.
 
The Saint Mary's University junior scored three minutes into overtime, breaking a 0-0 stalemate and leading the Cardinal women's soccer team to a 1-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Gustavus Wednesday afternoon.
 
With the win, Saint Mary's pushed its league-leading record to 3-0-1, three points in front of second place Saint Benedict (2-1-1). The victory also moved the Cardinals to 8-1-1 overall — their best 10-game start to the season since 2006, when SMU also opened the season 8-1-1.
 
It was a defensive battle through the game's 90 minutes of regulation, with SMU goalkeeper Alexis Nguyen (West Corvina, Calif.) stopping all five shots she faced, including three in the opening 45 minutes, while her GAC counterpart, Abby Goodno stopped the Cardinals' first six shots on goal — it was the seventh the Gustie senior could not handle.
 
Just three minutes into the extra session — 3:12 to be exact — Capacio took a feed from Claire Fletcher (Woodbury, Minn.) and found the back of the net to give Saint Mary's the 1-0 victory.
 
The Cardinals (3-0-1 MIAC, 7-1-1 overall) are back in action on Saturday, returning home to Ochrymowycz Field for a 3:30 p.m. conference matchup against Concordia.