EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — When the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team played host to UW-Eau Claire in their second game of the year on Nov. 7, the Cardinals surrendered five goals — single goals in the first and second periods, and three in the third — in a 5-2 Blugold win.

Friday evening, the Cardinals got another shot at the Blugolds, and for the second time in two meetings, SMU gave up single goals in the first and second periods — but this time, they held UW-Eau Claire scoreless in the third.

Unfortunately, while SMU's defense did a much better job of stifling the Blugolds' offense this time around, UW-Eau Claire's defense was down-right airtight.

Mikaela Jobman stopped all 12 shots she faced as the UW-Eau Claire freshman handed SMU its second shutout loss of the season, 2-0 at Hobbs Ice Arena.

"I thought, overall, we played better against (UW-Eau Claire) tonight than we did the first time around," admitted SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team saw its season-high losing streak climb to six straight. "But we're still stuck in that same pattern — we play very poorly in the first period, we play OK in the second and we play good in the third.

"Eau Claire is a very good team, and for us to only play one solid period against them is a little frustrating," continued Mannor. "One way or another, we've got to figure out a way to put a complete game together."

Martina Korinek gave UWEC all the offense it would need, scoring a powerplay goal at 11:51 of the opening period. The Blugolds dominated early, outshooting SMU 14-1 in the opening 20 minutes.

It was more of the same in the second period, as Eau Claire threw 10 more shot on SMU goalie Amanda Gage (Lino Lakes, Minn.), and got a second powerplay goal, this time coming off the stick of Michelle Stohr less than two minutes into the period.

"Offensively, we are struggling right now, no question about that," said Mannor, whose team has managed just five goals — and been outscored 22-5 — during its current six-game losing streak. "We've got to find a way to generate more offense. To score five goals in six games, you aren't going to win too many games that way."