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WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team gave coach
Terry Mannor the perfect belated Christmas present Friday evening — a one-two punch that knocked out visiting UW-Eau Claire.
Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) recorded her first collegiate hat trick — including scoring the game-winner 1:12 into overtime — and
Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) kicked out 27 of the 29 shots she faced, as the Cardinals beat the Blugolds 3-2 at the SMU Ice Arena.
“It was a good win — a good way to start the new year,” said SMU coach
Terry Mannor, whose Cardinals snapped a five-game losing streak with the nonconference win. “I thought, considering it was our first game in more than a month, that we did a pretty nice job.
“We've certainly got some things we need to work on, but all-in-all, this was a nice win.”
DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) got the Cardinals on the board first, as the sophomore beat UW-Eau Claire goalie Paige Turner with a wrist shot at 11:13 of the opening period.
Thanks to the stellar play of Gustafson— who stopped all 11 UW-Eau Claire first-period shots — the Cardinals took that 1-0 advantage into the locker room after the game's first 20 minutes.
And the second period was virtually a mirror image of the first, as DeBartolo scored her second goal of the game and Gustafson kicked out nine of the 10 shots she faced, giving the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage heading into the third and final period.
UW-Eau Claire got the equalizer on a goal by Sam Knutson with 4:14 left in regulation, but it was DeBartolo to the rescue again — scoring her third of the game and fifth of the season off assists from
Breanna Peterson (Macomb, Mich.) and
Hope Karban (Oconto, Wis.) early in overtime.
“It's nice to get a win like this,” said Mannor, noting that the Cardinals played eight overtime games a year ago — without a win — and are now a perfect 2-for-2 in overtime games this season. “Hopefully we can keep it rolling (Saturday).”
The Cardinals (4-6-0 overall) get another shot at the Blugolds on Saturday, as SMU travels to Eau Claire, Wis., for a 3 p.m. nonconference game against UW-Eau Claire.
