Game Summary

ST. PETER, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team entered the weekend's showdown with conference-leading Gustavus riding a four-game unbeaten streak.

With a win and a tie against St. Thomas, and 2-1 and 2-0 victories over Augsburg — two of the four MIAC playoff teams from a year ago — the Cardinals knew that their two-game series against Gustavus would go a long way toward determining this year's confernece champion.

Problem was, despite their 3-0-1 mark against the Tommies and Auggies, the Cardinals had managed just six goals — which left coach Duncan Ryhorchuk more than a bit concerned.

And the Cardinals did nothing to ease their second-year head coach's mind on Friday, when Gustauvs rode the shutout goaltending of Molly O'Donnell and two goals from Sarah Moe to a 3-0 victory.

In the team's rematdch on Saturday, the Cardinals' offense broke out of its minor scoring slump, getting three goals past GAC goalie Anne Kautzer.

Unfortunately, Moe and Co. did SMU one better en route to a 4-3 victory.

The two teams traded the game's first four goals, with Gustavus' Ann Katz and Ellen Doyle beating SMU goalie Missie Meeken (St. Cloud, Minn.), while Jamie Staples (South St. Paul, Minn.) and Christy Hicks (Bloomington, Minn.) finally found a way to beat O'Donnell.

With the score tied 2-2 midway through the third peirod, Moe decided to take matters into her own hands, as she scored back-to-back goals — giving her four in the series — less than a minute apart to give the Gusties a commanding 4-2 advantage.

Emily Kearns netted her team-leading fifth goal of the season with two minutes reamining in regulation, but that was as close as SMU would get.

Meemken finished with 33 saves — including 16 in the second period, while Kautzer stopped 13 of the Cardinals' 16 shots.