Box Score

Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — Statistically, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team was manhandled in its Minneesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game, as Augsburg held a commanding 30-11 advantage in shots on goal.

In fact, the Auggies were so dominant, that the Cardinals went for nearly two entire periods with just two shots on goal.

Fortunately for the Cardinals, it's not the shots on goal that count, it's the shots that go in the goal that matter most.

And one of the Cardinals' 11 shots, a wrist shot by Rebecca Jelenc (Sheboygan, Wis.) — SMU's lone shot of the second period — found the back of the net as Saint Mary's battled Augsburg to a 1-1 tie.

More importantly, the Cardinals earned a valuable point in the conference standings.

"It's the type of tie you can live with — especially because we were able to get a point off a team that's ahead of us in the standings," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team moved to 6-7-2 in the MIAC — still one point behind Augsburg for the No. 4 spot, but two points in front of St. Benedict in the race for the fifth and final MIAC playoff berth — heading into Saturday's rematch at Augsburg. "Despite the lopsided shots on goal, we did have a few good chances, we just couldn't make them count."

SMU's best scoring opportunities came in the final two minutes of the five-minute overtime as Augsburg's Stacy Anderson was whistled for an interference penalty, giving the Cardinals the powerplay with 1:41 left. The Cardinals controlled the play on the powerplay and had a golden scoring opportunity, but Amy Madden's (Grand Rapids, Mich.) shot from pointblank range was stopped by Augsburg goalie Amanda Bockmann.

"It's been the same thing all season — we don't generate a ton of good scoring opportunities, but the ones we do get, we aren't able to convert," said Ryhorchuk, whose team is now 0-11-2 in games in which they score less than two goals. "I didn't think we moved the puck very well tonight — our passes coming out of the zone weren't very crisp, and when you struggle in your defensive zone, it makes it that much tougher to get any offense going."

The Cardinals managed three shots in the first period — the last with 7:40 left in the period — and couldn't muster another shot until Jelenc scored from the blue line at 14:36 of the second period.

Despite the lack of offensive firepower, SMU clung to that 1-0 advantage heading into the third period. Twenty-two seconds into the final period, however, the Auggies got the equalizer as Stacy Anderson netted her team-leading 16th goal of the season, banging a rebound past SMU goalie Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.).

"Nikki played another great game for us," praised Ryhorchuk of his sophomore goalie. "With her playing like that, even when our offense is struggling, we've got a chance to win, and that's a big plus."