Box Score Box Score | GameDay Preview

MINNEAPOLIS, Minn.  — For Terry Mannor and the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team, it was better late than never Friday evening.

The Cardinals scored their first goal with 31 seconds left in the third period, added their second 57 seconds left in the middle period, then iced the game with back-to-back tallies 21 seconds apart in the final 1:16 of the third period, as SMU cruised to a 5-2 win over Augsburg at Ed Saugestad Arena.

The Auggies got on the board first, as Rachel Hennessy beat SMU goalie Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) with seven minutes remaining in the opening period, but SMU would answer, netting the equalizer off the stick of Breanna Peterson (Macomb, Mich.) with 31 seconds remaining.

The Cardinals made the most of their offensive opportunities in the opening period, scoring on one of their five first-period shots, while Gustafson kicked out seven of the eight shots she faced in the opening 20 minutes.

SMU turned up the offensive heat in the second period, putting 20 shots on the Augsburg net, and grabbing a one-goal, 2-1 advantage heading into the third period on Heidi Martin's (Ankeny, Iowa) first collegiate goal at 19:03.

SMU's lead lasted just seven minutes into the third period, as Augsburg's Sara Rajewski netted her fourth goal of the season, a power-play tally, at 7:01.

Nicole Olson (New Brighton, Minn.), SMU's point leader each of the last two seasons, came through midway through the third, firing a shot that skipped through Augsburg goalie Brianna Schulz's pads and into the net for a 3-2 Cardinal advantage.

And it was Gustafson who made the lead standing up, making a game-saving, sliding stop on Augsburg's Diana Bocklund with three minutes remaining in regulation.

Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Island, Mich.) and Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) then gave the Cardinals some breathing room, scoring back-to-back goals 21 seconds apart in the game's final two minutes to seal the win.

The Cardinals, who snapped a two-game losing streak in improving to 2-6-2 in conference play and 5-8-3 overall, set their sights on a conference sweep on Saturday, as they host the Auggies in a 2 p.m. MIAC game at the SMU Ice Arena.