Box Score Game Summary vs. St. Olaf / GameDay Online

NORTHFIELD, Minn. — For the second day in a row, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team scored three goals against St. Olaf.

This time around, however, with a much more favorable result.

The Cardinals scored three unanswered goals — including two in the third period — en route to a 3-1 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over the Oles Saturday.

“This was a good win for us,” said SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team battled to a 3-3 tie with the Oles in Friday's first game of the two-game series. “We played pretty well (Friday), coming back from a two-goal deficit and getting the tie, and we had to do the same type of thing today.

“It was a good win, but I'm getting a little tired of playing catch-up.”

St. Olaf got on the board first, scoring the only goal of the first period as Kelly Biddle beat SMU goalie Madeline Lenz (White Bear Lake, Minn.) at 9:14 of the opening frame.

That, however, would be the extent of the Oles' offense  — and the Cardinals' was just getting warmed up.

Cassie Stoner (Kenosha, Wis.) pulled the Cardinals even at the 15-minute mark of the second period, and Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn.) gave SMU the lead for good three minutes into the third stanza. Dana Kreuser (Mapelwood, Minn.) gave SMU a little breathing room with her first collegiate goal eight minutes later as the Cardinals improved to 3-2-1 in their last six games.

“It was nice to get a win after battling back the way we did,” said Mannor. “This is a resilient bunch — they've certainly proven that the last two days.”

The Cardinals, who improved to 3-5-1 in the MIAC and 4-9-1 overall, return to action Friday, when they travel to Bethel for the first game of their two-game series against the Royals.