ST. PAUL, Minn. — Hamline entered Wednesday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Playoffs semifinal against the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team boasting the league's No. 1 goal scorer and its No. 1 goaltender.
 
And, unfortunately for the Cardinals, Sophie Rausch and Mckenna Hulslander proved to be a lethal 1-2 combination for the Pipers.
 
Rausch scored her league-leading 20th goal of the season and Mckenna Hulslander kicked out 32 of SMU's 34 shots on goal, as Hamline knocked the Cardinals out of the post-season with a 4-2 victory at TRIA Rink.
 
Scoring early seemed to be the Pipers' modus operandi against the third-seeded Cardinals.
 
Hamline netted the only goal of the first period, as Haley Eder-Zdechlik beat SMU goalie Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.) just 3:30 into the opening stanza. The Pipers appeared to have a second goal late in the stanza, but Ziakas robbed Rausch with a spectacular glove save to keep it a one-goal game after 20 minutes.
 
There were more early period Piper fireworks to kick off the second stanza, as HU scored three times in the first four minutes — the first by Rausch 47 seconds into the period, another by Cheyenne Abear 38 seconds later, and a third by Molly Garin at 4:06 — to take a commanding 4-0 advantage.
 
Saint Mary's — which held a 23-19 edge in shots on goal through the first two periods — finally got one past Hulslander, when Carson Sheridan (Waunakee, Wis.) banged home a Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) rebound with 6:30 to play to cut the deficit to three, 4-1, heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Down, but not out, the Cardinals weren't about to throw in the towel — and clawed to within two, 4-2, when Polzin found the back of the net for the fifth time this season with 5:42 to play.
 
That, however, would be as close as Saint Mary's would get, as the Pipers held the Cardinals at bay down the stretch to earn a berth opposite top-seeded Gustavus in Saturday's MIAC Playoffs championship game.
 
Saint Mary's — which made its 10th appearance in the MIAC Playoffs and their first since 2020 — closed out the season with a 13-10-2 overall record. The Cardinals' 13 wins were the most since the 2003-04 season, when Saint Mary's finished 15-9-2, and the sixth-most victories in program history.
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