WINONA, Minn. — Hamline entered last Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team in the midst of a nine-game scoring drought.

The Pipers, who had also lost 11 straight games heading into Saturday's finale vs. the Cardinals, hadn't scored a goal since a 2-1 loss to St. Catherine on Sept. 20.

And the Cardinals did their part to extend that scoreless streak.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, keeping the Pipers off the scoreboard wasn't the problem — getting themselves on the scoreboard was.

SMU pelted the Hamline net with a season-high 24 shots, but Piper goalie Melissa Cherry — who probably dressed up as a brick wall for Halloween the night before — was up to the challenge as the two teams settled for a 0-0 tie.

"It's frustrating to dominate a game that much, and only have a tie to show for it," said SMU coach Dan Blank, whose team outshot Hamline 24-4, but was held scoreless for the fourth straight game. "This game was like a carbon copy of (last) Wednesday's game (a 1-0 loss to St. Catherine). In both games, we controlled the play, but we couldn't put the ball in the net."

It certainly wasn't for lack of effort — or chances.

Maria Laudenbach (Long Lake, Minn.) was robbed of her first collegiate goal with eight minutes remaining in regulation, as Cherry made a diving stop of her shot to keep the game scoreless.

In the first OT, it was Kim Volkart (Winona, Minn.) who was denied, as she was thwarted from pointblank range with less than a minute to go. And with time running out in the second overtime, both Diane Schirmers (Prior Lake, Minn.) and Volkart missed from in close.

"We certainly had our chances," admitted Blank, whose team closed out the season with a 2-8-1 MIAC mark and a 3-14-1 overall record. "Their goalkeeper was the difference in the game, she made some big, big saves that kept (Hamline) in the game."

And, while Blank would have loved to end the season with a win, he certainly couldn't fault his team's effort.

"They left it all on the field — they played their hearts out," he said of his team, which includes seven seniors who played their last collegiate game on Saturday. "The last two games have been a little frustrating, because we played better than the final outcomes. But the bottom line is, we were playing some very good soccer towards the end of the season — we put ourselves in position to win some games, and that was something we didn't do last year.

"I think we made some great strides this year," Blank continued. "Now, hopefully, we can carry than into next year."