LAKE FOREST, Ill. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team kicks off its season on the road Friday, traveling to Lake Forest for the first of two games against the Foresters. Game time is set for 7 p.m..



The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0-0 Overall)
at Lake Forest Foresters (0-0-0 Overall)

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Last Action:
Friday's game is the first of the season for the Cardinals and Foresters. SMU is coming off an 11-11-3 season in 2010-11, while Lake Forest posted a 14-9-3 mark a year ago.

SMU vs. Lake Forest — Their Last Meeting:
October 31, 2009: Lake Foreset scored three times in the second period and twice more in the third in beating the Cardinals 5-4 in the first game of their two-game nonconference series in Lake Forest, Ill.
November 1, 2009: Kaye Collier stopped 39 shots in her first collegiate start, but it was not enough, as Lake Forest completed the two-game sweep with a 4-0 victory in Lake Forest, Ill.

Up Next:
The Cardinals and Foresters complete their season-opening, two-game nonconference series Saturday afternoon. Puck drops at 2 p.m.

Saint Mary's Cardinals News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2010-11 Final Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
The Cardinals closed out the 2010-11 season with 11 wins, marking the second straight season — and 10th time in the program's history — that SMU has won 10 or more games in a season. … Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Island, Mich.) scored her team-leading 11th goal in the Cardinals' season finale against St. Olaf. … Coolsaet's 11 goals were the most by an SMU freshman since Melissa Mondo netted 15 in her 2003-04 freshman campaign. … Coolsaet recorded at least one point in 12 of the team's 25 games, and recorded her first collegiate hat trick in SMU's 5-2 win over Concordia on Nov. 13. …  Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.) closed out her junior year as the team's leader in assists (14) and points (23). … Olson's 14 assists and 23 points were both career highs. Her 23 points also marked the second straight year in which Olson has led the team in points — she finished with 21 points in 2009-10. … SMU finished the year with four players — Olson (23), Coolsaet (18), Erin Stenseth (Eau Claire, Wis. / 15) and Stevie Fiek (Rochester, Minn. / 11) — with 10 or more points. … Stenseth led the team with three game-winning goals — including the OT game-winner in SMU's 2-1 victory over St. Thomas on Jan. 29. … Twenty-six of the Cardinals' 57 goals last season came from first-year players. … Fourteen different players accounted SMU's 57 goals, while 20 of the Cardianls' 21 players recorded at least one point. … Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) finished with a team-leading 1.83 goals-against-average and a .946 save percentage in eight starts as a freshman a year ago. … Gustafson recorded her first collegiate shutout on Dec. 4, stopping all 41 shots she faced in blanking St. Catherine 4-0. Gustafson also shut out Augsburg on Feb. 4, needing just 11 saves to blank the Auggies 5-0. … SMU scored first in 12 of its 25 games, going 11-0-1. SMU was 0-11-2 when its opponent scores first. … Friday's were not kind to the Cardinals during conference play a year ago, as SMU went 1-5-3 in their nine MIAC games on Friday nights. … The Cardinals opened the season with three straight wins. SMU's 3-0-0 start was its first since going 4-0-0 to open the 1999-2000 season — the program's second year of existence.

Lake Forest Foresters News and Notes:
2011-12 Roster | 2010-11 Final Statistics | 2011-12 Schedule
The Foresters are coming off a 9-8-3 season a year ago, including an appearance in the NCA tournament quarterfinals, where they lost to UW-Superior 1-0 in a 20-minute mini-game, after splitting the first two games of the series. … Lake Forest will take to the ice against Saint Mary's having graduated its top two scorers — Melissa Kravich and Lynn Switaj — from a year ago. … Kravich owned the team lead in both assists (15) and points (22), while Switaj was the team-leader in goals with nine. … Lake Forest boasted four players with 10 or more assists and 10 players with 10 or more points. … Jessica Dare is Lake Forest's top returning offensive performer, scoring nine goals and adding 10 assists as a junior last season. … The Foresters will also have a different look between the pipes, as regular goalies Alyssa Wintermute and Brittany Lemke both graduated, after having combined for a 49-31-7 record, 2,171 saves, 12 shutouts and a .913 save percentage during their collegiate careers. … Stacey Dierking did appear in seven games in goal as a freshman a year ago, posting a 1.40 GAA and a .949 save percentage. … Lake Forest played three overtime games last season — with all three ending in ties. … The Foresters scored first in 15 of their 26 games in 2010-11, going 12-2-1.