NORTHFIELD, Minn. — For the second time this season, the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team made the trek to Northfield for a showdown against St. Olaf — this time for a quarterfinal-round MIAC Playoff showdown against St. Olaf.
And for the second time this season, the two-hour bus ride home would not be a celebratory one for the Cardinals.
Saint Mary's, which suffered a 3-0 loss to the Oles in the teams' regular-season meeting on Oct. 12 — a loss that snuffed out the Cardinals' five-game unbeaten streak — surrendered single goals in both halves and had their late-game charge fall just short in dropping a 2-1 decision to fourth-seeded St.Olaf Tuesday at Rolf Melby Field.
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, this time around the loss not only snapped another lengthy Saint Mary's streak — this one a season-high six-game winning streak — it also put an end to SMU's season.
As was the case in their first meeting — when the Oles' Sade Klassen scored in the 33rd minute — St. Olaf would once again strike late in the first half on Tuesday, as Klassen found the back of the net for a second straight timee against the Cardinals, heading a cross from teammate Marit Klagge past Cardinal goalkeeper
Alexis Nguyen (West Corvina, Calif.) in the 30th minute to give the Oles a lead they would not relinquish.
The similarities to the teams' first meeting continued to open the second half, as St. Olaf pushed its lead to 2-0 in the 54th minute — just two minutes later than the Oles' second goal in the mid-October meeting.
And for the second straight meeting, it was Tessa Anderson who would net St. Olaf's second goal, beating Nguyen off an Ole corner kick for the two-goal St. Olaf advantage.
An advantage the Cardinals could not overcome — but not for a lack of trying.
Saint Mary's cut the deficit to one, 2-1, when Samantha Munson (Plain City, Utah) scored her third goal of the season with less than nine minutes remaining in regulation.
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as St. Olaf held Saint Mary's at bay over the final 8:05 to punch its ticket to the tournament semifinals.
Nguyen finished with a pair of saves in goal for Saint Mary's, while St. Olaf goalkeeper Grace Sprangers stopped one of SMU's two shots on goal.
The Cardinals close out the season with an 11-6-2 overall record — marking the second straight year in which Saint Mary's recorded 10 or more wins in a season. St. Olaf, meanwhile, improves to 10-6-1 overall and will head across town to face top-seeded Carleton in a 2 p.m. MIAC Playoff semifinal showdown on Wednesday.
