WINONA, Minn. — The beat goes on for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team.
And it's a tune that's music to Cardinal coach
Chad Davis' ears.
Humming that winning tune Saturday afternoon was anything but easy, however.
Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) scored 2:44 into overtime, lifting the 13th-ranked Cardinals to their eighth straight win, a 4-3 victory over Bethel at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena — and a sweep of the Royals in their two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series
For the second game in a row, the Cardinals would strike early in the first period — and make that early tally stand up through the opening 20 minutes.
Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.) would do the first-period honors for the Cardinals, scoring just 2:29 into the opening frame — off assists from
Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) and
Mikayla Vasilevich (Chicago, Ill.) — to give SMU its 1-0 lead heading into the break.
As similar as the first period was to Friday's opening frame — when SMU also led 1-0 after one — the second period was anything but, as Bethel got back-to-back goals form Brynn Swenson two minutes apart to grab a 2-1 lead.
Celia Midtbo (Minneapolis, Minn.) would get the Cardinals back to even with her seventh goal of the season with less than five minutes to play, leaving the teams deadlocked at 2-2 with 20 minutes yet to play.
And Midtbo was just getting warmed up.
The Cardinal freshman picked up her second goal of the game just 1:29 into the third period on the power play to put Saint Mary's back in front 3-2. But the Royals would not go away, answering Midtbo's second straight tally with one of their own — this one off the stick of Megan Johnson — to pull BU even, 3-3.
Which is exactly the way the game would remain — until Paduano said otherwise.
Paduano, who her season- and career-high six-game goal-scoring streak in F 2-0 win over Bethel, extracted a bit of revenge on the Royals, netting her 11th of the season, taking a feed from Midtbo and beating BU goalie Anna Hanson with the game-winning tally.
Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) — who posted a 23-save shutout against the Royals on Friday — finished with 25 saves in Saturday, while Hanson kicked out 41 of SMU's 45 shots on goal.
The Cardinals (9-3-0 MIAC, 14-4-0 overall) are back in action next weekend with a pair of games against Saint Benedict. SMU will host the Bennies at 7 p.m. on Friday and 2 p.m. on Saturday, with both games at the SMU Ice Arena.
