ST. PETER, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team, wins against Gustavus have been few and far between of late.

Heading into Thursday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference semifinal playoff game, the Cardinals were winless in their last seven games (0-6-1) vs. the Gusties — a string that dates back to a 2-1 victory in the championship game of the 2002 conference playoffs.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, as few as the wins over been, the goals have been even fewer.

SMU arrived in St. Peter, Minn., Thursday having scored just four goals in those previous seven meetings. Take away a 3-3 tie during the 2002-2003 season, and the Cardinals are down to one goal in the last six games vs. GAC.

To make matters worse, SMU had been shut out in each of the teams last three games.

The Cardinals finally put an end to that scoreless drought, getting a second-period goal from Jenny Houcm (Rochester, Minn.) on Thursday, but SMU did not have enough in the tank to put an end to that seven-game winless streak as Gustavus scored two goals in both the second and third periods to eliminate Saint Mary's from postseason play with a 5-1 victory.

The Gusties outshot the Cardinals 16-5 in the first period of play and held a 1-0 lead after the first 20 minutes. Two-time MIAC Most Valuable Player Andrea Peterson opened up the scoring for Gustavus with an unassisted goal at 9:28 of the first period. Peterson's wrist shot found the upper left corner of the goal to light the lamp for Gustavus.

Gustavus increased its lead to three with two goals from Becky Steiner in the first two minutes of the second period. Margaret Dorer passed the puck to Kelly Crandall and she fired a shot on net. Steiner would redirect the puck into the open net with just 1:22 off the clock. Forty-one seconds later, Steiner would add another goal to give Gustavus a 3-0 lead. Ingrid Neve and Andrea Peterson assisted on Steiner's second goal of the night. Saint Mary's would cut the Gustie lead to two with a power play goal from Hocum at 11:51 of the second period.

Head coach Mike Carroll's squad would add two more goals in the final period of play. Kelly Crandall scored a power play goal at 13:16 to make the score 4-1 in favor of the Gusties. Andrea Peterson and Laura Stypulkowski were credited with the assists. Peterson would add her fourth point of the night 1:02 later. Peterson sniped a slap-shot over the right shoulder of the Cardinal goaltender to make the final 5-1, sending the Gusties onto the championship game.

Gustie goaltender Kara Meyer turned away ten shots to record her eleventh win of the season. Goaltender Nikki Jung made 33 saves and suffered the loss in the nets for Saint Mary's (11-13-3).

With the win, Gustavus improves to 22-3-1 overall and will host the University of St. Thomas in the conference playoffs final on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. St. Thomas defeated St. Olaf 8-1 on Thursday night in Mendota Heights to advance to the championship game. The winner of Saturday's game will earn an automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Women's Hockey Tournament.