Box Score Game Summary / GameDay Preview

DE PERE, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team's freshman class got its first taste of collegiate hockey Friday evening in a 5-0 victory over Marian.

And the Cardinal newcomers liked it so much, they came back for more Saturday evening against St. Norbert.

A day after freshmen Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Island, Mich.) and Brittany Therrien (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) accounted for three of SMU's five goals in a 5-0 win over Marian, Kara Cole (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) netted her first collegiate goal in helping the Cardinals to a 2-1 nonconference win over St. Norbert Saturday evening.

“It was a good game, and I thought we played very well,” said SMU coach Terry Mannor. “It's good to see the younger players stepping up and contributing right away.”

Yet, while the freshmen were certainly making the most of their first collegiate weekend, it was a veteran who saved the day Saturday, as Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) broke a 1-1 tie with her first goal of the season with less than two minutes remaining in regulation.

“We're getting a lot of different players contributing offensively, and that's always a positive,” Mannor said. “Give a lot of credit to St. Norbert — they played very well, too.”

Cole scored the only goal of the first period, while St. Norbert's Henriette Ostergaard pulled the Green Knights even with her first of the season at 15:40 of the second half — setting up Stenseth's third-period heroics.

Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.), who picked up the seven-save shutout in Friday's 5-0 win over Marian, finished with 25 saves against St. Norbert Saturday, while Mandy Montgomery had 21 saves in goal for the Green Knights.

The Cardinals (2-0 overall) are back in action on Friday, when they open their home schedule with a 7 p.m. nonconference contest against UW-Eau Claire. The same two teams will square off the following day in Eau Claire, Wis.