ST. PAUL, Minn. – The Saint Mary's women's soccer team competed in their first MIAC Playoff Championship game in program history on Saturday afternoon facing No. 1 St. Catherine University. The Cardinals fell 3-1 in the season finale and finished 14-3-4 on the season and 8-2-2 in conference for their first eight win conference season since 1994.
 
The Wildcats of St. Catherine proved to the Cardinals why they were the highest ranked team in the conference. This did not scare the solid defensive line as they were able to clear out the early attacks.
 
Senior Ella Lahart had the first shot attempt for her team at the fifth minute, it was saved by the Wildcat goal keeper. The Cardinals were there to leave their mark after falling by a goal in regular season action earlier in the season.
 
Neither team was able to get their offense going after the early attempts shut both teams down as they did not record a shot for the next 15 minutes of action. The high stakes game brought all the energy and all the nerves at the same time.
 
At the 31^st minute, Senior Dakota Leonard drew a foul before the mid field line setting her team up for a long free kick. Sophomore Sadie Chrusciel took the kick and served a beautiful ball towards the far left of the post, it was mishandled in an attempt to clear the ball out of the box. Senior Maya Wachter served the ball back into the front of the goal and found a wide open Lauryn Skoruppa who took a one touch to find the back of the net.
 
Skoruppa is not the player to leave open as she was the Cardinals leading scorer on the season with 12. The Cardinals land the first goal and the lead of the game, 1-0.
 
The Cardinals locked down the last couple chances the Wildcats took to tie the game before half.
 
The Wildcats through a hard punch to the Cardinals to open the second half of play. A minute into the game, the Wildcats crossed a ball that led to a toe poke of a tied goal. Within another two minutes, the earned their second goal of the game and took the lead within the first four minutes of second half action.
 
Saint Mary's was not back down, as Lauren Fields had a close call to tie the game with a left footed shot just left of the goal post at the 52^nd minute. The Cardinals earned the next two corner kick attempts and pushed their forwards high and hard in the chances to net the tie.
 
At the 70^th minute, the Wildcats took a free kick that led to another goal and gave themselves a comfortable two goal lead, 3-1.
 
The Cardinals could not dig themselves out of the two goal deficit and could not get anything else past the Wildcats defense. Junior goal keeper Anna Peckosh recorded 13 saves, a season high.
 
The team awaits the selection show in hopes for a post season tournament bid to the NCAA Tournament to keep their historic season alive. The 2024 NCAA Division III Women's Soccer Selection Show will air Monday, November 11th at 2 PM ET on NCAA.com.