Game Summary vs. Lindenwood / GameDay Online / Photo Gallery

WINONA, Minn. — For the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team, it was better late than never Saturday afternoon at the SMU Ice Arena.

Lindenwood struck early, but the Cardinals struck often, as SMU rallied from a twogoal second-period deficit — getting the game-winner from Sonja Sorakrai (Richfield, Minn.) three minutes into overtime — en route to a 3-2 victory over the Lions in an exhibition game.

“It was a good win for us — even if it doesn't count in the standings,” said SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team split its two exhibition games vs. the Lions a year ago. “I was very pleased with the way we battled back, especially after the way the game started.”

The Lions got on the board 29 seconds into the opening period, as Krystal Martin's dump in bounced off the back board, off the skate of SMU goalie Erin Johnson-Buscemi# (Medina, Minn.) and into the net.

Lindenwood struck quickly again in the second, as Mandy Dion made it 2-0 34 seconds into the second stanza.

From there, it was all SMU — much to the delight of Mannor.

Dana Kreuzer (Maplewood, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board at 8:10 of the second, while Jamie Henneman (Countryside, Ill.) knotted the game at two five minutes into the third. It would remain tied until 3:15 of the overtime, when Sorakrai beat Lindenwood goalie Becca Bernet with the game-winner.

Johnson-Becemi finished with 20 saves for SMU, while the Cardinals pelted Bernet with 40 shots — including 15 in the third period and five more in the three minutes of overtime.

“I thought we played a pretty solid 60 minutes,” said Mannor, whose team was coming off back-to-back losses to Adrian (Mich.) last weekend. “Hopefully we can pick up right where we left off when we got back at (Lindenwood) tomorrow.”