Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Duncan Ryhorchuk will be the first to admit that he can't see into the future.

He may not admit to being a psychic, but when he said after Friday night's 5-2 win over St. Benedict that his team needed to play more consistently, he wasn't kidding.

In fact his exact words were: "We can't afford to have 20-minute letdowns every game. The teams we play (in the MIAC) are too tough to let us get away with that."

Saturday afternoon, St. Benedict turned Ryhorchuk's warning into reality.

Despite holding a 43-17 advantage in shots on goal, a lackluster second period proved to be the Cardinals' undoing, as St. Benedict scored the eventual game-winner three minutes into the period en route to a 2-1 victory over SMU at the SMU Ice Arena.

"It was one of those games that, statistically, we should have won," said Ryhorchuk, whose team had its eight-game winning streak snapped with the loss. "We outshot them in every period, we controlled the play for long stretches — we just didn't finish around the net the way we need to.

"We played a great first and third period," continued Ryhorchuk, whose team outshot St. Ben's 16-7 through the game's first 20 minutes, then tacked on 16 more shots in the third period, while CSB was held to three. "But we struggled a bit in the second — again, we just couldn't maintain that high level from the first to the second periods."

Inconsistency or not, Ryhorchuk knows that with a 43-17 advantage in shots, one goal is far from satisfactory.

"We created so many good scoring chances, Ryhorchuk said. "We just didn't have that killer instinct to get the job done."

The Cardinals got on the board first when Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) tallied her eighth of the season — only to have CSB answer back five minutes later to tie the score at 1-1.

Susan Engel then netted the game-winner three minutes into the second, taking a pass from Sarah Horlitz and beating SMU goalie Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) with her team-leading eighth goal of the season.

"After the way we played last night, I think a lot of people figures this game was going to be another walk in the park," said Ryhorchuk. "There are no walks in the park — and, hopefully, everyone learned that lesson today. If we are going to be successful, we need to play with more consistency, and when we create the offensive opportunities, we need to capitalize on them."