WINONA, Minn. — After scoring four goals in a season-opening 5-4 loss at Lake Forest on Oct. 31, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team's offense went into a deep-freeze, as the Cardinals failed to match that Game 1 offensive performance in their next three games — combined.
That all changed Friday, however, as the Cardinals — fueled by two-goal performances from
Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn.) and
Katie Cachey (Orland Park, Ill.) — erupted for a season-high six goals in rolling to a 6-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory over Hamline at the SMU Ice Arena.
“It was nice for us to finally break through offensively,” said SMU coach
Terry Mannor. “We worked on a scoring a ton this week in practice and I think that paid off tonight.
“It's huge to start the conference off with a win, and to do it the way we did — when we played, we dominated. The only way Hamline got back into the game was because we let them back in the game (in the second period).”
The Cardinals, coming off their first win of the season — a 2-1 nonconference victory over UW-Eau Claire last Saturday — picked up right where they left off against the Pipers, outshooting Hamline 16-2 in the game's opening 20 minutes.
Two of those 16 shots — off the sticks of
Alex Braun (Darwin, Minn.) and Fiek — beat Hamline goalie Amelea Gray, as the Cardinals took a 2-0 advantage into the locker room after the opening period.
SMU would make it 3-0 23 seconds into the second period as Cachey netted the first of her two goals, but the Pipers would answer back, as Melanie Levelle netted her third of the season, beating SMU goalie
Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) midway through the stanza.
Fiek completed her first collegiate two-goal at 6:54 of the third period to give SMU a 4-2 cushion, but again the Pipers would answer on an unassisted tally by Levelle at 13:35.
Ingrid Klockars (Wheaton, Ill.) — who scored both goals in SMU's 2-1 win over the Blugolds last Saturday — and Cachey would score a minute apart late in the period to seal the win.
“It's nice to get the conference season off on the right foot,” said Mannor, whose team improved to 2-3-0 overall heading into Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch with the Pipers at Drake Arena in St. Paul, Minn. “I thought we played very well today — except for a little bit of a letdown in the second period.
“I told the team after the game that it's those kinds of letdowns that we need to get away from — if we are going to be successful, we have to play like we did in the first period for the enter 60-minute game.”
