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WINONA, Minn. — Despite an early lead, and a furious last-second effort, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team had its three-game winning streak snapped Friday evening, falling nationally-ranked Hamline 4-3 at the SMU Ice Arena.

“We battled very hard in the third period,” said SMU head coach Bill Moore. “We just didn't battle hard enough in the first and second.”

The Cardinals struck first, as Chase Marshall (Maple Grove, Minn.) banged up a loose puck after a pile-up near the Pipers' net for his first goal of the season.

Hamline responded with three consecutive goals — two scored by Danny Vranek in a two-minute span —to take a two-goal, 3-1 lead.

SMU's Kevin Wentland (Columbia Heights, Minn.) cut the gap to 3-2 with a backdoor goal assisted by Marshall and Austin Balko (Midland, Mich.). Wentland's goal was his fourth of the season, which leads the Cardinals.

Hamline finished off the wild second period on a goal by Austin Tavis to take a 4-2 lead into the locker room after two periods.

The Cardinals made a strong push in the third stanza — once again getting to within a goal on a slap shot by Balko from just inside the blue line.

That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get in suffering their first conference loss of the season.

“It's toughtto come back from two goals down,” said Moore, “Especially when you're down against the eighth-ranked team in the country.

“The late score speaks to our determination and heart,” said Moore. “We don't want to quit. You win some, you lose some … but it would have been nice to win this one in our own barn.”

The Cardinals (3-4-0 overall, 2-1-0 in the MIAC) will have a chance for payback when they travel up to St. Paul on Saturday for a 7 p.m. rematch against Hamline.