WINONA, Minn. — It was a week that started with so much promise, as seniors Regan Cahanes (Woodbury, Minn.), Krista Conway (Mendota Heights, Minn.), Amy Edge (Mineral Point, Wis.), Amanda Daigle (Rice Lake, Wis.) and Amy Lang (Oshkosh, Wis.) took center stage — on Senior Day — to lead SMU to a sweep of Bethel in their final home doubleheader of the season last Tuesday.

Unfortunately, the end of the week wasn't as memorable as the beginning.

In fact, it certainly wasn't the way Nikki Fennern wanted her team to close out their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference schedule, but in the grand scheme of things, last Saturday's 4-2 Game 2 loss to Concordia was nothing more than a speed bump in the Cardinals' race to the MIAC Tournament.

"You never like to lose, and obviously we would have much rather won these last two (MIAC) games — but it certainly isn't the end of the world, either," said Fennern, whose team got a three-hit shutout from Jenny Schipp (North St. Paul, Minn.) in winning the opener 1-0. "We knew coming in that we were locked into that No. 2 spot (for the MIAC Tournament), so we were hoping to use these games as a good springboard into the postseason."

Unfortunately, the Cobbers decided to put up a Cardinal roadblock.

Concordia used a pair of two-run innings — the second and fourth — to take a 4-0 lead. SMU threatened, putting runners on second and third in both the second and fourth innings, but both times failed to plate a run. The Cardinals finally got on the board in the sixth — getting a two-run single from Jenny Giannini (Oak Brook, Ill.), but it was too little, too late.

"We've been a slow-starting team all season, and (Saturday) it came back to haunt us," said Fennern, whose team — which had its 15-game MIAC winning streak snapped with the Game 2 loss — will close out its regular season on Tuesday, traveling to UW-Eau Claire for a nonconference doubleheader, before opening MIAC Tournament play on Friday against Gustavus. "We finally got the bats going (in the sixth inning), but by that time, ti was too late."

Schipp proved to be a one-woman wrecking crew in Game 1, as the SMU junior not only won her 18th game of the season — and 13th straight decision — but also delivered a run-scoring double in the top of the third that scored Jenni Gutterman (Shoreview, Minn.) from first with the game's only run.

"Jenny pitched a great game," said Fennern of her junior right-hander, who extended her scoreless inning streak to 25.1 and has allowed just seven earned runs in her last 13 appearances. "We didn't give her a lot of offensive support — fortunately, three hits and one run was enough.

"We're disappointed," Fennern said of the split. "But this team will bounce back — they always do."