DULUTH, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team locked up its 14th MIAC Playoff berth in thrilling fashion with Friday evening's 2-1, overtime victory, but the Cardinals weren't about rest on their laurels — they still had work to do.
 
And work (overtime) they did — again.
 
With a home-ice playoff position still very much within their grasp, the Cardinals picked up another crucial conference point with their 2-2 overtime tie against the Saints in Saturday's rematch at Mars Lakeview Arena.
 
Saint Mary's made two goals work in Friday's first game against St. Scholastica — scoring once in the final two minutes of regulation and getting the game-winner from Reese Heitzman (Hermantown, Minn.) three minutes into overtime en route to a 2-1 victory.
 
Two goals again on Saturday would not be enough to garner a second straight win, but it would be enough warrant second straight overtime. This time around, however, SMU would not be able to work their OT magic in settling for the tie.
 
With the tie, the Cardinals remained tied with Hamline for third place with 32 points, six up on Bethel and four back of second-place Augsburg with two games — and a possible six points remaining in the regular season. SMU closes with a pair of games against Concordia (6 MIAC points), while Hamline faces Bethel (26 points), and Augsburg squares off against St. Scholastica (21 points).
 
For the second game in a row, the Saints would score the only goal of the opening period, when Abby Pohlkamp found the back of the net on the power play to give CSS a 1-0 advantage.
 
Unlike Friday, however — when neither team would score in the game's middle frame — the Saints extended their lead to 2-0 on a tally by Jessie Ketola just 4:28 into the second period.
 
Kennedy Kraus (Kasson, Minn.) pulled Saint Mary's within one, 2-1, with a goal with just 37 seconds to play in the second stanza, and Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) — who collected assists on both SMU goals in Friday's OT victory — pulled the Cardinals even with her 13th goal of the season just 2:48 into the third.
 
Neither team would be able to break the deadlock through the final 17:12 of the third — or in the five-minute overtime.
 
After outshooting the Saints 60-28 in Friday's win, SMU once again dominated in the shots on goal department, holding a 52-34 advantage, only to manage to get two past CSS goalie Mackenzie Cole. Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.), meanwhile, finished with 32 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals.
 
The Cardinals (11-4-1 MIAC, 17-5-1 overall) close out the regular-season portion of their schedule next weekend with a pair of home games against Concordia at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. SMU and CC will square off at 7 p.m. on Friday night, with Saturday's rematch slated for a 2 p.m. opening face-off.
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