WINONA, Minn. — There's something about playing the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team that leaves Gustavus fit to be tied.
 
Literally.
 
For the fourth straight year, the Cardinals battled the Gusties to a stalemate Friday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena — thanks in large part to the play of SMU goalie Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.).
 
Ziakas stopped a career-high 55 shots — including a combined 24 in the third period and the five-minute overtime — and Kas Kingston (Black Diamond, Alberta) netted a game-tying, second-period goal in leading Saint Mary's to a 1-1 draw with the nation's sixth-ranked team.
 
Heading into Friday's MIAC showdown, the Gusties had allowed just two goals in eight conference contests — one each in beating Concordia 5-1 and 3-1 on Jan. 21.22.
 
Thanks to Kingston's second-period tally — her third of the season — however, that number now stands at three goals in nine contests.
 
The Gusties, who had outscored their first eight MIAC opponents 34-2, dominated the game's opening period, but left the ice clinging to just a 1-0 advantage — because of the stellar play of Ziakas, who stopped 16 of Gustavus' 17 first-period shots.
 
The only shot to elude the Cardinal netminder came off the stick of GAC's Jordyn Peterson, who netted a power-play tally at 5:49 of the first period to give Gustavus its 1-0 first-period cushion.
 
The Cardinals had a golden opportunity to knot the game at 1-1 before the period ended, as Amber Miller (Kasson, Minn.) found herself on a breakaway with 1:32 to play, but Gustavus goalie Maria Widen — who had faced just one shot to that point — was up to the task, stymying the SMU senior to keep it a 1-0 game through 20 minutes.
 
Gustavus picked up where it left off in the second period, once again buzzing around the Cardinal net — but, as was the case in the first period, Ziakas was up to the challenge, stopping all 15 second-period Gustie shots.
 
After managing just two shots in the opening period, Saint Mary's doubled that effort in the second — including a power-play shot off the stick of Kingston that eluded Widen and pulled the Cardinals even at 1-1 heading into the third period.
 
A third period that belonged to Ziakas, who turned in an Academy Award-winning performance as a brick wall over the final 25 minutes, stopping all 20 shots she faced in the third period, and made four more saves in the overtime en route to her career-high 55-save effort.
 
In the shootout, which in a "normal" year would have awarded an additional point to the winner, SMU's Nina Langley (Chaska, Minn.) scored on the Cardinals' first attempt, and Ziakas stopped all three Gustie shooters.
 
The Cardinals (6-2-1 MIAC, 9-6-1 overall) and league-leading Gusties will square off again on Saturday, heading to Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., for the second game of their two-game conference series. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m.
 
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