WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team returns home for its conference rematch against St. Thomas, as the two teams square off in a 2 p.m. MIAC contest at the SMU Ice Arena.

The Matchup:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1-0 MIAC | 0-2-0 Overall) at St. Thomas Tommies (1-0-0 MIAC | 1-1-0 Overall)

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Last Night:
St. Thomas scored a pair of goals in the final 59 seconds of the second period, erasing a 3-2 SMU lead and handing the Cardinals a 4-3 setback in the teams' conference-opener at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn. | Recap

SMU vs. St. Thomas — A Year Ago:
January 18, 2013: For SMU, special teams were the difference in the Cardinals' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown with St. Thomas. Unfortunately for the Cardinals, the Tommies' special teams were extra-special, as UST scored both a shorthanded and a power play goal in the game's opening period and never let SMU recover, handing Saint Mary's a 3-0 setback at the St. Thomas Ice Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn. | Recap
January 19, 2013: SMU did everything coach Terry Mannor could ask of them during Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Thomas at the SMU Ice Arena. For the second straight game, however, the puck refused to bounce the Cardinals' way, as St. Thomas completed its MIAC sweep of SMU with a 5-1 victory at the SMU Ice Arena | Recap

Up Next:
The Cardinals are back on the road next weekend, as SMU heads to St. Cloud, Minn., for a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference games against Saint Benedict. … St. Thomas also returns to conference play next weekend, as UST squares off against St. Olaf in a pair of 7:30 p.m. contests — the first at UST Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., on Friday, with the rematch taking place at the Northfield (Minn.) Arena a day later.

Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2013-14 Roster | 2013-14 Statistics | 2013-14 Schedule
Saturday's game was the second straight road contest for the Cardinals, who play four of their first five games — and five of their first seven — away from the SMU Ice Arena. … Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.), Lindsay Paschke (New Prague, Minn.) and Haley Coolsaet (Grosse Ile, Mich.) accounted for SMU's three goals against the Tommies Saturday afternoon. It was the first goal of the season for all three — and the first collegiate goals for Cwik and Paschke. … Mackenzie Klimek (Hastings, Minn.) — who shared the team's assist lead with Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) and Breanna Peterson (Macomb, Mich.) a year ago — picked up her team-leading second and third assists of the season against the Tommies Saturday. … Klimek heads into Saturday's rematch vs. the Tommies with a team-leading three points, one more than Coolsaet and Cwik. … SMU's five goals this season have come from five different players — Cwik, Paschke, Coolsaet, DeBartolo and Brittany Therrien (Brooklyn Park, Minn.). … Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) —  who led the team with 324 saves a year ago — made her second straight start Saturday against St. Thomas, finishing with 31 saves. … Freshman Marah Shields (Mitford, Mich.) — making her first collegiate appearance — stopped 13 shots in relief against Gustavus on Nov. 2. … SMU has scored two goals in the first period and three in the second — the Cardinals are still searching for their first third-period goal. On the flip side, SMU has surrendered seven of its 12 goals against in the second period. … The Cardinals are 2-13-1 over the past two seasons when their opponent scores first.

Scouting The St. Thomas Tommies:
2013-14 Roster | 2013-14 Statistics | 2013-14 Schedule
The Tommies' game against Saint Mary's Saturday was their second straight home game. … UST, which returns 23 players from last year's 14-8-2 team, was picked to finish second in the MIAC in the preseason coaches' poll. … After a 2-3 MIAC start last season, UST went 11-1-1 the rest of the season to tie for second in the conference. … Megan Juricko and Courtney Umland each scored a pair of goals vs. SMU Saturday. … Umland's second goal — with seven seconds remaining in the second period — was the game-winner against the Cardinals Saturday. …  St. Thomas' 9-3 loss to UW-River Falls last Saturday marked the second-straight season-opening loss for the Tommies — who are 0-3-1 in their last four season openers. … UW-River Falls' nine goals scored against the Tommies last Saturday — including seven straight after UST jumped out to a 2-0 lead ¬— were the most allowed by UST in program history. The previous high was eight goals, scored by Gustavus on Feb. 2, 2007. … Lauren Mumm, Kelsey Barnier and Rachel Friberg have also scored for the Tommies this season. … Two-time All-America goalie Alise Riedel finished with 25 saves against SMU Saturday. … Four of UST's seven goals this season have come in the second period — UST has yet to score a third-period goal this season. On the flip side, The Tommies have surrendered five goals in the first period, four in the second and three more in the third. … Christina Rozeske is a two-time All-America relays sprinter in track and field and has been a member of three conference title teams in outdoor track. … Over the last five seasons, UST is just 2-21-1 when allowing three or more goals. The Tommies are 53-16-10 when holding their opponents to two goals or less. … The Tommies are 11-4-2 since Juricko joined the team at the start of January 2013. She has six goals and six assists in those 16 games. … UST is gunning for its 14th consecutive trip to the conference playoffs. The Tommies have reached the MIAC playoff title game eight times with one title. … UST has had 13 consecutive winning seasons.