ASHLAND, Wis. — Tony Guinn will be the first to admit that he had a little trouble focusing on Wednesday's nonconference game against Northland.

Fortunately for the Saint Mary's University women's soccer coach, his Cardinals were more than focuses — especially in the second half.

The Cardinals rallied from a 1-0 first-half deficit with three second-half goals in a 10-minute span en route to a 3-1 win over the Lumberjacks — extending their season-opening winning streak to eight straight games.

"It was important for us to get through this game, but I have to admit, in the back of my mind I was thinking about Sunday," admitted Guinn, referring to Sunday's showdown with defending Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference champion Macalester — currently unbeaten and ranked No. 5 in the latest AVCA Top 25. "That's such a big game for us, it was tough to stay focused on (the Northland) game."

The Cardinals didn't have the same problem.

Fueled in part by the halftime deficit, the Cardinals' offense came to life five minutes into the second half as Louise Irvine (Belfast, Northern Ireland) evened the score at 1-1 with her first collegiate goal. Two minutes later, Bridgette Baggio (Glenview, Ill.) gave SMU the lead for good, and, Lisa Tlougan (Rochester, Minn.) netted her team-leading fourth goal eight minutes later to ice the win.

"It was nice to see us come out in the second half and really take control," said Guinn, whose team moved to 8-0-0 – equalling the best start since the Cardinals went 8-0-0 to start the 1996 season and just two wins short of SMU's best-ever start of 10-0-0, achieved during the 1989 season. "(Northland) played a very physical team, they had an excellent striker — one of the fastest we've played against this season — and they had a solid goalkeeper.

"When you have success like we've had this season, teams are going to be really keyed up to knock you off," continued Guinn. "It's like playing with a big bulls-eye on your back — we just have to keep playing our brand of soccer. We do that, and we'll be just fine."