WINONA, Minn. — It took a bit longer than Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach
Terry Mannor would have liked, but the Cardinals' offense final got out of neutral Friday evening.
And once they shifted into high gear, there was nothing Concordia could do to stop them.
The Cardinals broke a scoreless tie midway through the third period, then added another goal six minutes later, as SMU collected a key 2-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over the Cobbers Friday evening at the SMU Ice Arena.
“It wasn't the prettiest game we've played, but we got the job done, and that's what's important,” said Mannor, whose team improved to 3-1-1 in the MIAC and 4-4-1 overall with the win. “We knew coming in that it was going to be a close contest, I just didn't expect it to be such a defensive battle.”
Neither team found much offensive success in the game's opening two periods, with SMU holding an 8-5 edge in shots on goal in the first period, while the Cobbers outshot SMU 12-3 in the game's middle 20 minutes.
Then came the third period.
After 10 more minutes of scoreless action,
Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board with her fourth of the season at 10:56, rifling a wrist shot from the top of the slot past Cobber goalie Desiree Goret.
Ingrid Klockars (Wheaton, Ill.) would give the Cardinals some breathing room when she broke past the Cobber defense and beat Goret with her fourth of the season at 16:14.
“That second period might have been one of the worst periods we've played since the second game of the season,” said Mannor. “We just couldn't seem to get anything going. But everyone in that locker room knew what they had to do (in the third period), and they went out and did it.”
While Olson and Klockars provided the late-game offensive fireworks,
Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) was stellar in goal for the Cardinals, stopping all 29 Cobber shots for her second shutout of the season.
“Kaye played great,” praised Mannor of his freshman goalie. “She kept us in there for the first two-and-a-half periods and it was good to see her get the shutout.”
The Cardinals will host the Cobbers against Saturday night (7 p.m.) in the second game of the teams' two-game conference series at the SMU Ice Arena.
