Box Score

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WINONA, Minn. — After becoming just another notch in Lindenwood's belt Friday evening, it would have been easy for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team to go out and go through the motions in Saturday's exhibition rematch.

After all, the Lions were now unbeaten in their first seven games of the season — thanks in part to Friday's 7-0 drubbing of the Cardinals. And it was the Lions who had outscored their first seven opponents 58-3, while the young Cardinals entered the game still licking their wounds from the night before..

On paper, it should have been just another mismatch.

On paper.

In real life, the Cardinals used Friday's loss as a learning experience — and they proved to be quick studies, as Amy Zimniewicz (River Falls, Wis.) and Jenn Shire (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) collected goals, and Emily Friedl (La Crescent, Minn.) and Brittany Lemke (St. Charles, Ill.) combined to make 22 saves, as SMU grounded the high-flying Lions 2-1 at the SMU Ice Arena.

"We talked a lot before (Saturday's) game about what we needed to do different, what adjustments we had to make, and they did everything we asked of them," said SMU coach Terry Mannor. "(Friday) was our first game, we didn't know what to expect of ourselves, and we didn't know what to expect from our opponent.

"We got all the nervousness out of the way (Friday), and we were able to come and focus on playing the way we are capable of playing today."

And Mannor could not be happier with what he saw.

"I'm very pleased," he said. "It was like night-and-day between (Friday) and today — this was much more like the team I expect to see on the ice day-in and day-out."

Zimniewicz got the Cardinals on the board midway through the first period, snapping the Lions' three-game shutout streak wiht a rebound goal that slipped past Lindenwood goalie Becca Bernett.

The Lions pulled even 45 seconds into the third period, as Ashley Boye slipped a shot past Lemke to make it a 1-1 game. Shire broke the deadlock at 12:34 of the final period, as SMU handed the Lions their first setback.

"This team grew up a lot today," said Mannor, whose team officially opens its season next Saturday, traveling to UW-Eau Claire for a nonconference game. "It was nice to have a couple of games like this to work the kinks  out. Lindenwood is a very good team, and I was proud of the way we bounced back from Friday's loss  We could have easily been intimidated (after Friday's loss), but we weren't — we came out played with a lot of heart and determination today."