Box Score Game Summary vs. UW-Eau Claire / GameDay Online

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. — Terry Mannor earned his first collegiate coaching victory when the Saint Marys University women's hockey team beat UW-Eau Claire to open the 2005-2006 season.

Since that time, the two teams had squared off five times heading into Saturday's nonconference game, with UW-Eau Claire winning all five meetings.

Make that all six meetings, as the Blugolds scored once in the first period and twice more in the second en route to a 3-1 victory over the Cardinals.

“You could tell that (UW-Eau Claire) had already played a game — they didn't have the first-game jitters that we did,” said Mannor, whose team has now dropped back-to-back season openers to the Blugolds. “We played a little tentative out there, but that's to be expected in the first game of the season.

“We certainly made our share of mistakes, but all the mistakes we made are correctable, so that's a good thing.”

The Blugolds got the lone goal of the opening period, as Meghan Lorenz beat SMU goalie Emily Friedl (La Crescent, Minn.) at the 7:11 mark. The Cardinals knotted things up five minutes into the second period on an Alex Braun (Darwin, Minn.) goal.

That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offensive attack, as UW-Eau Claire took the lead for good with less than three minutes remaining in the second period, then got an insurance goal from Kristin Faber with 1:04 left in the third period to seal the win.

“Overall, I was pleased with the way we played,” said Mannor, whose team gets another shot at the Blugolds Friday, when SMU plays host to UW-Eau Claire in a 7 p.m. game. “If nothing else, this game showed us what we need to work on — it was a good start.”