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WINONA, Minn.  — After two practice runs, #Erin Johnson-Buscemi (Medina, Minn.) made her first official start for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team — and the freshman goalie didn't disappoint.

After making appearances in both exhibition games against Lindenwood last weekend, Johnson-Buscemi was between the pipes again Friday — this time officially — as the Cardinals played host to St. Catherine at the SMU Ice Arena.

And aside from a third-period shot off the stick of Kelsey Abrahamson, the freshman was perfect in leading SMU to a 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory.

“Erin did a nice job — we needed her to step up and she came through,” said SMU coach Terry Mannor, noting that SMU's starting goalie — Madeline Lenz (White Bear Lake, Minn.) is still recovering from a concussion suffered during SMU's second game against Adrian on Jan. 4. “Defensively, we did a nice job of keeping all the shots from the outside, and when they did put the puck on net, (Johnson-Buscemi) was in position to make the save.”

For Mannor and the Cardinals, Friday's game was the beginning of the stretch run in a race for a berth in the MIAC playoffs, and the 3-1 win was a nice start.

“It's just one game, but from a confidence standpoint, it's huge,” said Mannor, whose team snapped a two-game losing streak with the victory, while improving to 3-4-0 in the hotly contested MIAC race. “The season has come down to six, two-game series — and each win brings us closer to a playoff berth.”

Ingrid Klockars (Wheaton, Ill.) provided the Cardinals with all the offense they would need, netting her team-leading fifth and sixth goals of the season — the first at 8:50 of the opening period to give SMU a 1-0 advantage, and the second at 14:55 of the third to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.

Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn.) then recorded SMU's second powerplay goal of the game four minutes after Klockars' second goal to ice the win.

Johnson-Buscemi finished with 25 saves, while Mel Gerten stopped 27 of the Cardinals' 30 shots in suffering the loss.

“I'm pleased with the win, but still aren't putting together a complete, 60-minute effort,” said Mannor, whose team travels to St. Paul, Minn., on Saturday for the 7:30 p.m. rematch with the Wildcats. “We seem to get stronger as the game goes on — we play OK in the first period, and by the third period, we are pretty dominating.

“We've got to do a better job of playing the first period like we play the third.”