Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Duncan Ryhorchuk is a patient man.

But, he admits, his patience is wearing thin.

Through the first 10 games of the season, Ryhorchuk is still waiting for his team to put together a complete, 60-minute performance.

Not a good period here and another there, but top-of-the-line effort from start to finish.

Yet, while he waits for his team to put together his vision of a perfect game, the Cardinals keep racking up wins anyway, pushing their winning streak to eight straight — and their unbeaten string to nine — with a 5-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over St. Benedict Friday evening at the SMU Ice Arena.

"Right now we are not playing consistent hockey — and as we move on down the season, we are going to need to do that, or we could be in trouble," said Ryhorchuk, whose team has not lost since opening the season with a 3-2 loss to Lake Forest. "We've played some very good periods of hockey, but we haven't put three solid periods together yet — and until we do that, every game is going to be a battle."

Friday was yet another consistently inconsistent performance.

The Cardinals jumped out to a 3-0 first-period lead, getting a pair of goals from Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) sandwiched around one from Rachel Harrison (Madison, Wis.).

"I thought we came out pretty strong in the first period, and maybe caught St. Ben's a little flat after their long bus trip," said Ryhorchuk. "But after we got out front in the first period, we seemed to lose a little of that momentum, and from the last five minutes of the first period to the start of the third, it was a pretty even game."

The Blazers cut the Cardinal lead to 4-2 heading into the game's final 29 minutes, getting goals from Sarah Wilson and Katie Ponsolle, while SMU could only counter with Harrison's second goal of the game.

The Cardinals returned to top form in the third, outshooting CSB 12-7 — and getting insurance goal when Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) found the back of the net six minutes into the period.

"It would be nice to get that complete-game performance, but the bottom line is, we got the win," said Ryhorchuk, whose team moved to 5-0-0 in the MIAC and 8-1-1 overall with the victory. "The key for us right now is to continue to work hard, and to try and find that consistency. 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."