Game Summary
FRIDLEY, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team played the entire first half of the season without senior Missy Westergren (Lonsdale, Minn.), who did not return to school for the fall semester.
Bethel probably wished the Cardinals' senior forward would have decided to stay at home for the second semester, too.
Westergren scored three goals in her first game back with the Cardinals to lead SMU to an 11-0 rout of the Royals Friday evening.
"It's nice to have Missy back, she certainly gives us another offensive weapon," understated SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team snapped a two-game MIAC losing streak with the win. "We came out a little sluggish in the first period, but we really put it all together in the second and third."
Westergren scored the only goal of the first period at the 18:55 mark, then added her second 55 seconds into the second period, igniting a five-goal second-period outburst. Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) pushed SMU's lead to 3-0 at the nine-minute mark and Westergren completed her hat trick two minutes later. Mo Hayes (Cottage Grove, Minn.) and Tasa Kostel (Rochester, Minn.) also scored in the second stanza, while Laura Wyness (Chicago, Ill.) scored twice in a two-minute span early in the third period and Tennie McCabe (Rochester, Minn.), Kearns and Christy Hicks rounded out the Cardinals' scoring with third-period goals.
"I thought we played a very solid game — everyone contributed in one way or another and that's going to be a big key for us over the second half of the season," said Ryhorchuk. "Once we were up by five or six goals, we didn't start getting sloppy or make bad decisions. We continued to play with a high level of intensity, and that was encouraging to see."
Ryhorchuk was also pleased with the play of his two goaltenders, as Missie Meemken (St. Cloud, Minn.) and Nitara Frost (North Mankato, Minn.) combined for a 15-save shutout.
"We've gotten good goaltending all season, and we did again tonight," Ryhorchuk said. "To get us clicking on all cylinders the first game back from a long layoff is nice to see."
So was having Missy Westergren back in the lineup.
