ST. PAUL, Minn. — Friday evening, Jane Hannula (Coon Rapids, Minn.) carried the offense for the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team—scoring both goals in a 4-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference loss to St. Catherine.
 
Saturday afternoon, Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) followed Hannula's lead, as the Cardinal sophomore scored both of the Cardinals' goal in the team's rematch with the Wildcats.
 
While Henderson was doing what she's done best all year—scoring goals—Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.) continued to dominate Saturday afternoon games at the other, stopping all 21 shots she faced for her third straight Saturday shutout.
 
Henderson's two goals and Herrmann's 21 saves were more than enough, as Saint Mary's—with an assist from Hamline—not only earned a split in its conference series against the Wildcats with a 2-0 victory, but more importantly, the Cardinals also locked up the fifth and final MIAC Playoff berth.
 
"It was really an evenly played game for two periods—but we really stepped things up in the third period and that was the difference," said Saint Mary's coach Terry Mannor, whose Cardinals won the tiebreaker over Gustavus for the fifth and final playoff spot—thanks to the Gusties' 1-1 tie against Hamline on Saturday. "Everyone was pretty down after last night's (4-2 loss), but when they took the ice today, you could tell they came to play.
 
"It was a great team win and I happy for everyone that there is more hockey to play."
 
After back-to-back scoreless periods in the first and second, Henderson finally broke through four minutes into the third, scoring her 12^th goal off the season off an assist from Maddy Wallraff (Blaine, Minn.).
 
Seven minutes later, Henderson found the back of the net for a second time, this time taking a feed from McKenna Parent (Anoka, Minn.) and beating SCU goalie Abi White with goal No. 13 on the season.
 
And two goals were more than enough with Herrmann between the pipes, as the Cardinal senior was her usual unbeatable Saturday self—stopping seven shots in all three periods for the 21-save shutout. Herrmann has now blanked Gustavus, Saint Benedict and St. Catherine over the last three Saturday afternoon games.
 
Saint Mary's, which closes out conference play with a 9-7-2 mark, and heads into the MIAC Playoffs at 10-12-3—including a 6-3-1 mark in their last 10 contests—will be making its second straight MIAC Playoff appearance, heading to fourth-seeded Concordia on Thursday for a 4 p.m. contest.