Box Score  | GameDay Preview

WINONA, Minn. — Maybe Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Terry Mannor might want to consider not allowing his team to score the game's first goal.

For the second time in as many meetings with St. Catherine, the Cardinals got on the board first Saturday afternoon.

And, for the second straight game, the Wildcats transformed that first-period deficit into a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win.

Unlike Friday's 5-3 SCU victory — in which the Wildcats answered Macki Fadness' (Eau Claire, Wis.) first-period goal with four unanswered tallies — St. Catherine waited until the third period this time around.

The Wildcats scored three times in a 10-minute span — including the game-winner with less than three minutes remaining in regulation — as SCU completed its conference sweep of the Cardinals with a 4-3 victory at the SMU Ice Arena Saturday.

"We just couldn't put together a complete 60-minute performance this weekend," said SMU coach Terry Mannor. "There were times that we played really, really well, but there were other times when we just couldn't seem to do anything right.

"It's disappointing, because if we played up to our abilities for the entire 60 minutes, we could have just as easily come out of this weekend with two wins."

Breanna Peterson (Macomb, Mich.) got the Cardinals on the board five minutes into the opening period, netting a power-play goal off an assist from Fadness. The Wildcats answered with a power-play goal of their own three minutes later, as the teams headed to the locker room deadlocked at 1-1 after one.

The Cardinals once against grabbed a one-goal lead, this time getting an even-strength goal from Katie LeTourneau (White Bear Lake, Minn.) midway through the second period.

Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) added SMU's second power-play tally of the game six minutes into the third period to push the Cardinals' lead to 3-1.

From there, however, it was all SCU, as Jordan Solheim made it a one-goal game 1:42 after Lien's tally, and Kira Kuntz and Kasey Evans scored two minutes apart late in the period to give the Wildcats' the 4-3 win.

Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) finished with 33 saves — including 13 in the third period — in goal for the Cardinals, while Alex Hall recorded 40 saves for the Blazers.

The Cardinals 2-4-0 MIAC, 2-6-0 overall) are now off until Jan. 5-6, when SMU travels to Lake Forest, Ill., for a pair of nonconference games against the Foresters.