Jung shuts down Cobbers to end slide

Donny Nadeau, SMU Sports Information Office

Box Score Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team was like a fine wine Friday evening — they got better with age.

The Cardinals, who came out sluggish in the opening period of their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against Concordia, turned up the heat in the second and third period, getting goals from Amy Madden (East Grand Rapids, Mich.) and Laura Mueller (St. Paul, Minn.) — not to mention shutout goaltending from Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) — en route to a 2-0 victory over the Cobbers at the SMU Ice Arena.

"The most important thing in a game like this was that we were able to get the win," said SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team snapped a three-game losing streak with the shutout win — their first shutout victory since a 3-0 triumph over UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 29, 2005. "We didn't play very well in the first period, but we just seemed to get better and better as the game went on."

After a scoreless first period, in which Concordia held a 7-6 advantage in shots on goal, Madden got the Cardinals on the board midway through the second period, banging a rebound past Concordia goalie Jenna Johnson.

Mueller then gave SMU some breathing room with her third goal of the season, a short-handed tally just 45 seconds into the third period.

Clinging to that two-goal lead with just over two minutes remaining in regulation — and with Concordia's goalie pulled for an extra attacker — SMU was called for back-to-back penalties, giving the Cobbers a 6-on-3 advantage.

And that's where Jung shined the brightest, stopping five of the Cobbers' 13 third-period shots in the final two minutes to preserve her 10th career shutout.

"We needed a win like this, a win where we played pretty well in all facets of the game — offense, defense and special teams," said Mannor, whose team will host the Cobbers in the second game of the two-game conference series Saturday afternoon. "We seemed to gain more and more momentum as the game progressed, and hopefully we can carry that into (Saturday's game)."

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