Box Score

	vs.
4		3

Game Summary / GameDay Online

ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team made things a little too close for comfort, but the end result was what mattered — a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference-opening win over Saint Benedict.

The Cardinals raced out to a 3-0 lead, then held on for dear life, holding off the Blazers 4-3 Friday evening.

"I think the final score was closer than it should have been," said SMU coach Terry Mannor. "We played well at times, and at  other times, we didn't play so well. We were really clicking early, jumping out to that 3-0 lead, but then I think we let up a bit.

"You can't afford to let up in this league."

Ingrid Klockars (Wheaton, Ill.) got the Cardinals on the board at 12:43 of the opening period, and, a minute later, Jill Rhody (St. Paul, Minn.) made it 2-0 with her first of the season. Francie Steger (Chicago, Ill.) tallied her first collegiate goal less than a minute into the second period to push the Cardinals' advantage to 3-0.

CSB's Maggie Kinney and Gretchen Leyendecker turn what appeared to be an SMU rout into a nailbiter, before Katie Cachey (Orland Park, Ill.) scored with less than five minutes remaining in regulation to push the Cardinals' lead back to two, 4-2. CSB's Stephanie Kendrick made it a one-goal game with 1:12 left, but it was too little, too late, as SMU won its conference opener for the second straight season.

"We've still got a lot of work to do," said Mannor, whose team will  complete its two-game conference series against the Blazers Saturday afternoon. "But the bottom line is, we did what we had to do to get the win."