Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Duncan Ryhorchuk isn't ready to hit the panic button.

But after watching his team manage to score just one goal in its two-game, Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series against Augsburg — and just 10 goals in its first eight games — his hand is hovering awfully close.

The Cardinals' offense continued its early-season hibernation Saturday afternoon, managing just one goal in a 6-1 loss to Augsburg at the SMU Ice Arena.

"What can I say?" asked Ryhorchuk, whose team was shutout by the Auggies 4-0 on Friday and has been outscored 20-2 in its five losses. "We're getting good scoring opportunities. (In the two games) against Augsburg, we had 67 shots on goal, and we only scored once.

"On the positive side, we're creating a lot of scoring opportunities. On the negative side, we're noting cashing in on enough of those opportunities."

For the second straight day, SMU found itself in a 2-0 first-period hole as Augsburg's Annie Annunziato scored the first of her three goals to give the Auggies a 2-0 advantage.

Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) finally ended SMU's scoring drought at the 5:39 mark of the second period, scoring an unassisted goal to pull the Cardinals within one, 2-1. Augsburg regained its two-goal lead before the period ended as Annunziato completed her hat trick with less than three minutes remaining in the period.

Both teams had their share of chances in the third period, but it was the Auggies who made the most of them, scoring on three of their 15 third-period shots. SMU, meanwhile, came up empty on all 15 of their shots in the period.

"We have to try and stay positive and try and work through this," said Ryhorchuk, whose team is off until Dec. 6, when they play host to Concordia. "I'm not about to hit the panic button or anything, but we've got to get this turned around pretty quick — we need to start scoring some goals."