WINONA, Minn. — For two periods Saturday afternoon, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team appeared to be headed for its second straight Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win over St. Catherine.
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the third period transformed that appearance into disappointing reality, as the Wildcats scored two goals in the game's final 20 minutes en route to a 2-1 victory at the SMU Ice Arena.
“This one stings,” said SMU coach
Terry Mannor, whose team had defeated the Wildcats 2-0 Friday evening in St. Paul, Minn., and were looking to extend their unbeaten streak to five straight. “For two periods, we seemed to be playing loose, but in that third period, we seemed to tense up and not play our game.”
And the Wildcats took advantage, getting the equalizer at 7:59 on a powerplay goal by Katie Lawler, then netting the game-winner on an Ashley Grell rebound goal with 5:44 remaining in regulation.
Jamie Henneman (Countryside, Ill.), who notched her first collegiate two-goal game in netting both goals in Friday's 2-0 SMU win, had given the Cardinals' a 1-0 lead with her fifth of the season at 13:50 of the first period.
The Cardinals nursed that one-goal advantage into the third period, but were unable to hang on.
Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.), who shut out the Wildcats for five straight periods — including stopping all 23 shot in posting her first collegiate shutout on Friday — finished with 19 saves Saturday.
“It's a tough loss, because I thought we definitely played well enough to win,” said Mannor, whose Cardinals outshot St. Catherine 33-21 — including 13-5 in the second period alone. “This game was another leading experience for us, we have got to be able to keep our emotions in check — especially in these tight, one-goal games.”
The Cardinals are back in action on Friday, when SMU plays host to Concordia in the first of two straight conference games against the Cobbers at the SMU Ice Arena.
