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ST. PAUL, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team scored early, but it was St. Catherine that scored more often Friday evening at Drake Arena.
SMU netted the game's first goal three minutes into the opening period, but the Wildcats responded with four unanswered goals in handing the Cardinals a 5-3 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference setback.
"We fell asleep after we scored that first goal," said SMU coach
Terry Mannor. "By the time we started playing again, it was too late."
Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) netted her first goal of the season on the power play at 3:50 of the opening period to give the Cardinals an early 1-0 advantage.
The lead, however, lasted just 10 minutes, as St. Catherine scored back-to-back goals just over a minute apart to take the lead for good, 2-1. Megan Killmer scored her first of the season at 13:09, with Kira Kuntz added her second of the season 1:15 later as SCU took a one-goal advantage into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes.
The Wildcats would push that advantage to 4-1 as Mallory Ryan and Shelby Salmossen found the back of the net in the first eight minutes of the middle period.
Brittany Therrien (Brooklyn Park, Minn.) cut St. Catherine's lead in half, tallying SMU's second power-play goal of the game — her third of the season — just 36 seconds after Salmossen's goal.
The Cardinals' whittled SCU's lead down to one midway through the final period, as
McKenna Parent (Anoka, Minn.) scored an unassisted tally at 12:32 to make it a 4-3 game.
That, however, would be as close as SMU would get, as St. Catherine added en empty net goal by Jordan Solheim with 51 seconds remaining in regulation to seal the win.
Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) finished with 21 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while the Wildcats' Samantha Geissler kicked out 24 of SMU's 27 shots.
The Cardinals (2-3-0 MIAC, 2-5-0 overall) get another shot at the Wildcats on Saturday, as SMU hosts St. Catherine in the second game of the two-game conference series at the SMU Ice Arena. Puck drops at 2 p.m.
