Box Score Game Summary / GameDay Preview

BOSTON, Mass. — When the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team took the ice Sunday for the opening game of the UMass-Boston Codfish Bowl, the Cardinals had not competed in nearly a month.

And it showed early in the Cardinals' tournament-opener against Trinity, as the Bantams scored a pair of first-period goals in handing SMU a 3-1 nonconference setback.

“We did play well in the first period, and I kind of figured that might happen with the long layoff and the travel,” said SMU coach Terry Mannor, whose team had its six-game unbeaten streak snapped with just their second loss of the season — and first since dropping a 4-3 decision to UW-Eau Claire on Nov. 6. “What pleased me most, was the fact that we continued to get better as the game went on.

“We didn't play well in the first, but by the end of the third, we were playing very well.”

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, they just couldn't overcome that sluggish first period.

Trinity dominated play early, scoring back-to-back goals 24 seconds apart before the game was even six minutes old. The Bantams peppered SMU goalie Kaye Collier (Hibbing, Minn.) with 15 first-period shots, and took that 2-0 advantage into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes.

After a scoreless second period, in which Trinity outshot the Cardinals 9-5, SMU's offense came to life, as Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis.) scored her fifth goal of the season to cut the Bantams' lead to 2-1.

That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as Trinity iced the win on an Emily Kiedon power play goal with 1:48 remaining in regulation.

Collier finished with 37 saves for the Cardinals (6-2-3 overall), while Trinity goalie Alexa Pujol stopped 10 of SMU's 11 shots.

“(Trinity) is a very good team,” said Mannor of the Bantams — who have won the last three Codfish Bowl Tournament titles and have consistently been ranked in the USCHO.com national poll. “Take away the slow start, and we played right with them. They came into the game with the nation's top-ranked power play, and we held them to one goal in six (power play) chances.”

The Cardinals are back in action on Monday, taking Bowdoin — 6-4 losers to UMass-Boston in Sunday's other semifinal game — at 1 p.m.