Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Duncan Ryhorchuk admitted that he was a little worried about the possibility of fatigue playing a part in the outcome of Friday's MIAC game against St. Benedict at the SMU Ice Arena.
After all, the Cardinals were playing their fifth game in eight days — including a pair of road games at Lake Forest on Tuesday and Wednesday.
Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) and the rest of the Cardinals quickly proved Ryhorchuk's fears were unwarranted as SMU erupted for five second-period goals — including three by Kearns — en route to a 10-0 drubbing of the Blazers.
"We talked before the game that we needed to make sure we came out focused and ready to play," said Ryhorchuk, whose team pushed its season-high winning streak to seven straight, equaling its second-high offensive output of the season in the process. "Offensively, we capitalized on a lot of the chances we had, and defensively, we did a nice job of keeping their good scoring opportunities to a minimum."
When the Blazers did create a good scoring opportunity, SMU goalie Missie Meemken (St. Cloud, Minn.) was there to shut them down, as the junior netminder stopped all 20 St. Benedict shots for her fourth shutout of the season.
Meemken's defensive heroics paled in comparison to Kearns' offensive exploits, however, as the sophomore forward broke her own school record for most goals in a game with five and tied the school mark for most points in a game with six.
With her five-goal evening, Kearns now has a team-leading 27 goals — including 11 in her last four games — and is just three goals away from SMU's single-season record of 30 set a year ago by teammate Tennie McCabe (Rochester, Minn.). Kearns' team-leading 44 points are also just five shy of McCabe's single-season record.
Missy Westergren (Lonsdale, Minn.) opened the scoring for the Cardinals, netting the first of her two goals midway through the opening period. Then Kearns took over, scoring at the 14:25 mark of the first period, then adding two goals in the first 5:54 of the second period to complete her hat trick and give SMU a commanding 4-0 advantage.
But SMU — and Kearns — weren't finished, not by a long shot.
Westergren pushed the Cardinals' lead to 5-0 at the 10:51 mark of the second period, and over the next five minutes, Aja Walters (Fairmont, Minn.) and Kearns had scored, as the Cardinals took a 7-0 lead into the locker room after two periods.
Forty-five seconds after Christy Hicks (Bloomington, Minn.) had made it 8-0 early in the third periods, Kearns tallied goal No. 5, and Laura Wyness (Chicago, Ill.) closed out the scoring with her sixth of the season five minutes later.
"Offensively, we had a lot of people contribute, and that's always a good thing to see," said Ryhorchuk. "Emily may have scored five goals, but all five goals were a direct result of good passes by her teammates. On the other end, Missie gets credit for the shutout, but defensively, we did a great job of limiting their scoring chances."
Despite the lopsided end result, Ryhorchuk isn't about to let his team get complacent heading into Saturday's rematch.
"St. Ben's showed in the third period how well they are capable of playing," said Ryhorchuk, whose team was outshot 9-6 by the Blazers over the final 20 minutes. "They're going to come after us, and we need to make sure we come ready to play — or else it's going to be a long afternoon."
