Game Summary

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team scored early Friday evening in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Olaf — very early.

In fact, Rachel Harrison (Madison, Wis.) got the Cardinals on the board before most of the fans in attendance had even gotten to their seats, as the SMU sophomore beat St. Olaf goalie Kelly Rollwagon just 30 seconds into the opening period.

Over the game's final 59:30, however, the Cardinals came up empty-handed time and time again as Rollwagon stopped the final 28 shots she faced in leading St. Olaf to a 3-1 MIAC victory.

"It's a tough loss, because we dominated the play — we outshot them, and I really thought we outplayed them," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team finished with a 29-25 advantage in shots on goal — including a 23-13 edge in the game's final two periods. "We just couldn't get the puck in the net."

Janae Fabini pulled the Oles even before the first period ended, beating SMU goalie Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) at the 11:04 mark of the first period.

After a scoreless second period, St. Olaf got the eventual game-winner as Susanna Brokl beat Jung midway through the period, Brokl then added an empty net goal with 18 seconds remaining to ice the win.

"Overall, I thought we played a pretty decent game," said Ryhorchuk, whose team will look for a split in the teams' two-game MIAC series when they square off again Saturday at the SMU Ice Arena. "We gave (St. Olaf) one opportunity in the third period, and they capitalized on i — that was the difference.

"Hopefully we can come out and give the same type of effort (Saturday) — and hopefully, we can come away with a different end result, too."