WINONA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team held a pair of one-goal leads before dropping its series finale to Saint Mary's University, 4-3, on Saturday at SMU Ice Arena.

St. Olaf (10-12-1, 7-8-1 MIAC) held leads of 1-0 and 2-1 before Saint Mary's (9-12-2, 5-9-2 MIAC) scored three consecutive goals late in the second and early in the third on its way to the one-goal win. The loss bumped the Oles into a tie for the final Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoff spot with one series remaining.

With the loss and Bethel University's regulation win over Concordia-Moorhead, St. Olaf is tied with the Royals for the fifth and final playoff spot ahead of the two teams' series this coming weekend. The Oles and Royals are three points ahead of Saint Mary's and Concordia.

Senior Molly Terebayza opened the scoring with a power-play goal just 1:18 into the opening period to give St. Olaf the first of its two leads. The goal got the senior into double figures for the third time in her career and gave Terebayza four goals in the last three games.

Saint Mary's evened the score at 1-1 with a power-play goal of its own midway through the second, but the Oles responded three minutes later with another power-play tally to reclaim the lead. First year Mackinley Ronan got St. Olaf's second power-play goal of the game, her third goal of the season, at 12:19, but the Cardinals evened the game at 2-2 just 1:13 later.

Teagan Phillips completed her hat trick and gave Saint Mary's the lead for good with the go-ahead goal 2:35 into the third period before Reese Heitzman made it 4-2 less than three minutes later. Sophomore Gianna Kowalkoski brought the Oles within a goal with 2:59 to go in the third with her second goal of the season, but Saint Mary's held on to gain a split of the series.

St. Olaf and Bethel will begin their crucial series at the National Sports Center in Blaine at 7 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 20.