Game Summary
WINONA, Minn. — It wasn't as easy as the night before, bu the end result was just as sweet.
Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) scored two goals and the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team used a three-goal third period to get past St. Benedict, 5-2, and complete the MIAC sweep in the final regular-season game.
The Cardinals, who won their season-high eighth straight game, locked up the No. 2 seed for the upcoming MIAC playoffs, which will be played at the Super Rink in Blaine, Minn., on March 1-2.
"We played very well, but in spurts," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team improved to 15-2-1 in the MIAC and 19-5-0 with the win. "We seemed to get stronger as each period wore on. Early in the periods, St. Ben's had the upper hand, but then later (in the periods), we really took it to them."
Kearns, who scored five times in Friday's 10-0 win over the Blazers, opened the scoring with five seconds remaining in the first period as SMU, despite holding an 11-6 advantage in shots on goal, managed just a 1-0 lead after the opening 20 minutes of play.
St. Benedict took control of the game midway through the second period, getting back-to-back goals from Katie Ponsolle and Lisa Sullivan less than three minutes apart to give the Blazers (9-8-0 MIAC, 10-13-0 overall) a 2-1 advantage. Tasa Kostel (Rochester, Minn.) got the equalizer for the Cardinals at the 17:10 mark, setting up SMU's third-period heroics.
Laura Wyness (Chicago, Ill.) netted a powerplay goal 1:07 into the third period and Jaimie Mussehl (South St. Paul, Minn.) pushed the lead to 4-2 with 2:46 remaining. Kearns then closed out the scoring with an empty-net goal with two seconds remaining.
"This was a good sweep," said Ryhorchuk, whose team is now off until March 1, when they will take on the conference's No. 3 seed in the opening round of the playoffs. "Offensively, we did a lot of nice things — we created a lot of good scoring opportunities, and we capitalized on them.
"Hopefully this will be a good spring board into the playoffs for us."
