WINONA, Minn. — With a post-season berth safely tucked away, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team turned its focus to getting its high-octane offense clicking on all cylinders.
 
After all, Saint Mary's entered the first game of its two-game Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against Concordia Friday evening having scored just five goals in its last three games.
 
And while a three-goal effort wasn't a drastic improvement, it certainly was a step in the right direction.
 
After scoring two goals or less in each of their last three games, the Cardinals lit the lamp three times against the Cobbers — including twice in the opening period — en route to a 3-1 victory over Concordia at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
With the win, the Cardinals maintain their stranglehold on third place in the MIAC standings, and will head into Saturday's rematch with the Cobbers sitting with 36 points, one point in front of Hamline and three back of second-place Augsburg.
 
An SMU regulation win and an Augsburg loss would bump SMU into the No. 2 slot in the MIAC Playoffs — and a home semifinal matchup against the Auggies. If Saint Mary's, Augsburg, and Hamline all win in regulation, SMU will remain No. 3 and will travel to Augsburg for the opening round of post-season play. A Cardinal loss and a Hamline win would drop SMU to fourth and Saint Mary's would host either Bethel or St. Scholastica in a quarterfinal-round contest.
 
It took the Cardinals a good portion of the first period to get their offense shifted out of neutral Friday night against the Cobbers, but once they did, they went from zero-to-two in less than two minutes.
 
Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) got things rolling for SMU with her fourth of the season — a power-play tally — at 16:06 of the opening period. Less than two minutes later, SMU doubled its lead, as Jordy Wyant (Winnipeg, Manitoba) netted an unassisted goal, her second of the season, to give the Cardinals a 2-0 lead at the first intermission.
 
The better-late-than-never approach worked so well in the first period, the Cardinals implemented it again in the second, scoring their third goal of the game on a highlight-reel breakaway goal by Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) with 8:23 to play in the middle frame.
 
Jaclyn Lloyd foiled SMU goalie Celeste Rimstad's (Richfield, Minn.) bid for a shutout, scoring just 13 seconds into the third period. That, however, would be the only puck that would get past the Cardinal sophomore, who finished with 24 saves in her 24th consecutive start between the pipes for SMU.
 
The Cardinals (12-4-1 MIAC, 18-5-1 overall) will close out their regular-season schedule on Saturday, when they return to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for the second game of their two-game series against the Cobbers. Opening face-off is slated for 2 p.m. 
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