Box Score Box Score | Photo Gallery | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — Getting a Friday night lead hasn't been the problem for the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team.

Keeping it has.

For the second straight Friday, the Cardinals grabbed a two-goal lead this time grabbed a 2-0 first-period lead against league-leading and 12th-ranked St. Thomas at the SMU Ice Arena.

The Tommies, however, responded with four unanswered goals — two in the second and two more in the third — in handing SMU a 4-2 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback.

The Cardinals got on the board at the 7:11 mark of the opening period, scoring their third power play goal in the last two games.

Vincent Unklesbay (Maplewood, Minn.) won a face-off to the left of St. Thomas goalie Drew Fielding straight back to A.J. Mueller (New Berlin, Wis.), who rifled a slap shot past the screened Fielding for his third goal of the season and a 1-0 SMU advantage.

SMU dominated the opening 20 minutes, outshooting St. Thomas 12-3 in taking the 1-0 lead into the locker room.

Special teams continued to be special for the Cardinals early in the second period, as Nick Nagel (Andover, Minn.) netted his fifth goal of the season — extending his goal-scoring streak to four straight games — to give SMU a 2-0 advantage.

From there, however, the period — and the game — belonged to the Tommies.

UST quickly erased SMU's two-goal advantage with back-to-back goals — including a power play tally of their own off the stick of Travis Baker with less than five minutes remaining — as the teams headed into the third period deadlocked at 2-2.

The Tommies took their first lead of the game two minutes into the final stanza, as Robby Philipp netted his 10th goal of the season on the power play. Three minutes later, Riley Horgan beat SMU goalie Andy Scheib (Sun Prairie, Wis.) with a wrist shot to give UST a two-goal cushion they would not relinquish.

Scheib finished with 23 saves, while Fielding kicked out 28 of the 30 Cardinal shots he faced in goal for UST.

SMU (1-5-1 MIAC, 4-11-1 overall) get another shot at the Tommies on Saturday, as SMU travels to Mendota Heights, Minn., for a 7 p.m. MIAC game against UST at the St. Thomas Ice Arena.