MIAC Playoff Picture
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The Cardinals are currently in fourth place heaidng into their regular season-ending conference series against Bethel. A sweep of the Royals would assure the Cardinals of a third-place finish and they would travel to No. 2 St. Thomas for a playoff game on Thursday. Should the Cardinals win and tie vs. the Royals, SMU would still finish as the No. 3 seed, holding the tiebreaker over both Bethel and St. Olaf. A split against Bethel, however, and — believe it or not — SMU could be out of the playoffs altogether. With a split, SMU would finish with 19 points. St. Olaf starts the weekend one point behind SMU and plays St. Catherine (1-19-1 overall), while Augsburg is two points back of SMU witih a season-ending series vs. Concordia (5-13-3 overall). If both those two teams sweep, they would be in and the Cardinals would be out, because SMU would be tied with Augsburg for the fifth and final spot, and the Auggies have the head-to-head tiebreaker (Augsburg won 4-3 in OT and tied 1-1 in the teams’ regular-season meetings).
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Game Notes
SMU managed just four goals vs. Bethel last year, but it was enough to earn the Cardinals three points as they posted a 1-1 tie and added a 3-1 victory. … The Cardinals got goals from four different players — including three in the first three minutes of the second period — as SMU completed its MIAC sweep of St. Olaf with a 4-3 victory last Saturday. SMU had opened the series with a 3-1 win. … Bethel picked up three of a possible four points (a 3-3 tie and 3-2 OT win) over Hamline last weekend to lock up the school’s first-ever MIAC playoff berth.
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Cardinal Notes
Rachel
Harrison
2 G, 1 A vs.
St. Olaf
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With the Cardinals' sweep of St. Olaf, SMU extended its unbeaten streak to eight straight (7-0-1). … The Cardinals have outscored their opponents 23-11 during their eight-game run. … SMU has qualified for all five MIAC playoffs. … Amy Madden (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Rachel Harrison (Madison, Wis.) each scored two goals vs. the Oles and Harrison added an assist for a team-leading three points in the two-game series. … Amanda Gage (Lino Lakes, Minn.) and Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) teamed to stop 61 of the 65 shots they faced vs. the Oles. … Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) — who led the team in goals (8) and points (14) a year ago — already has surpassed those numbers with her team-leading 10 goals and 19 points. … With her two assists vs. St. Olaf, Laura Mueller (St. Paul, Minn.) pushed her team-leading assist total to 10. … Mondo and Mueller (16 points) are two of five SMU players with at least 10 points. … The Cardinals have played seven overtime games — one short of the school record eight set in 2002-2003 — going 3-1-3 in those games
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Royal Notes
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After starting the season with just two wins in their first 11 games (2-8-1), the Royals gone 8-0-2 in tis last 10 games. Bethel’s last loss was a 5-2 loss to Gustavus on Jan. 14, 2006. … Senior Heidi Govednik is the Royals’ leader in goals scored (14) and points (21), while fellow senior Lisa Kinney is second with 12 goals and 19 points. … Freshman forward Bethany Murphy, who was the first women’s hockey player named MIAC Player of the Week since the 2000-01 season, is currently third o the team in points with 18 (7 goals, 11 assists). … Freshman goalie Beth Spurrier is ranked in the top four in the MIAC and top 15 in all of NCAA Division III in all major goalie statistics. She currently carries a .919 save percentage, while having a 2.16 goals-against-average. … Spurrier has also recorded a school-record four shutouts this season. … Nine of Bethel’s 10 wins have come when the Royals score the game’s first goal. Bethel is just 1-6-1 whne its opponents score first. … The Royals have played five overtime games this season — including Friday’s 3-3 tie vs. Hamline. Bethel is 1-1-3 in those five OT games.
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