WINONA, Minn. — For Saint Mary's University seniors Aja Walters (Fairmont, Minn.) and Jenny Hocum (Rochester, Minn.), last Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Concordia was their regular-season finale.

But they weren't about to make it their last hurrah.

With the teams locked in a 1-1 battle, Walters and Hocum hoisted the Cardinals on their shoulders — scoring back-to-back goals three minutes apart late in the third period to lift the SMU women's hockey team to a 3-1 victory over the Cobbers.

And, more importantly, carry them into the playoffs.

With the win, the Cardinals locked up their fifth straight MIAC playoff berth — and a date at Augsburg next Tuesday evening.

"That's about as close as two teams can get," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team got a third-period goal from Rachel Harrison (Racine, Wis.) to salvage a 2-2 tie in Friday's opening game of the teams' regular season-ending series. "We played with a lot of confidence in the first two periods, but I thought we came out a little shaky to start the third."

SMU settled down in the third period, and, with less than four minutes remaining — and the Cardinals staring at a possible second straight overtime game — it was Walters to the rescue, as the SMU senior picked up a loose puck in front of the Concordia net and rifled a shot that beat Cobber goalie Jenna Johnson to the glove side.

Hocum then gave the Cardinals some breathing room as she joined Walters in the senior spotlight, scoring an empty net goal with 15 seconds remaining to ice the win — and the playoff berth.

"It's fitting that those two came up big on Senior Day," said Ryhorchuk. "Jenny has played well all season. She hasn't gotten the offensive production she probably would have liked, but she's been such a key player on both our powerplay and penalty kill units. And Aja, she's been solid all year — she has made the most of her (scoring) opportunities all season."

Laura Mueller (St. Paul, Minn.) collected the Cardinals' first goal, giving SMU a 1-0 advantage with a powerplay goal late in the first period, Concordia's Hannah Impola knotted the game at 1-1 early in the second period — setting the stage for the Cardinal senior's late-game heroics.

"Getting to the playoffs has been a goal of this team all season," said Ryhorchuk, whose team — which has qualified for the conference playoffs in each of its five years — went 0-1-1 vs. the Auggies (1-1 tie, 3-1 loss) two weeks ago in their regular-season meeting. "I don't want to come off sounding arrogant, but we should be (in the playoffs) — this team hasn't shown its true potential yet."

Ryhorchuk is hoping the Cardinals put that potential on display beginning next Tuesday.