WINONA, Minn.  — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team kicks off its 2014-15 season on Friday, as the Cardinals host UW-Superior in the first of two nonconference games at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. Puck drops at 7 p.m.
 
The Match-Up:
Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-0-0 Overall) vs. UW-Superior Yellowjackets (2-1-0 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
Live Stats * Live Video | GameDay Program | Video Preview
 
Last Action:
• Saint Mary's: This weekend's games against the Yellowjackets are the first of the year for the Cardinals, who are coming off a 9-15-1 season a year ago.
• UW-Superior: After back-to-back wins over Augsburg last weekend, the Yellowjackets suffered their first loss of the season on Tuesday, falling to Gustavus 3-1 in a nonconference game in Superior, Wis. | Recap
 
Saint Mary's vs. UW-Superior—Their Last Meeting:
• November 10, 2006: Saint Mary's saw its season-opening winless streak climb to three straight, as UW-Superior scored a pair of third-period goals, breaking a 2-2 deadlock en route to a 4-2 win over the Cardinals in Superior, Wis. | Recap
• November 11, 2006: Less than 24 hours after giving up two Yellowjacket goals in the third period of a 4-2 loss, UW-Superior did it to the Cardinals again in the teams' rematch, scoring twice in the game's final 20 minutes en route to a 2-1 win and a sweep of the nonconference series in Superior, Wis. | Recap
 
Up Next:
•  The Cardinals and Yellowjackets are at it again on Saturday, as Saint Mary's hosts UW-Superior in the second game of their two-game series at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. Game time is set for 2 p.m.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2013-14 Final Statistics
Saint Mary's boasted a pair of players on the All-MIAC First-Team a year ago. Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) earned the conference honor for the second straight year, and was joined by Breanna Peterson (Macomb. Mich.). … The Cardinals closed out the 2013-14 season with victories in each of their last three games. … Saint Mary's scored a season-high five goals in a game three times — including their 5-3 season-ending win over Hamline on Feb. 23. … Peterson and Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) closed out the season as the team-leaders in points with 15 each. … DeBartolo also led the team in assists with 10, while Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) compiled a team-high seven goals, one more than Peterson, McKenna Parent (Anoka, Wis.), and Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.). … Saint Mary's closed out the season with six players owning 10 or more points — Peterson (15), DeBartolo (15), Parent (12), Lien (10), Brittany Therrien (Brooklyn Park, Minn. / 10) and Lindsay Paschke (New Prague, Minn. / 10). … DeBartolo put together a team-best five-game point-scoring streak in January, recording nine points—two goals and seven assists. … Lien had a goal and two assists in Saint Mary's 5-1 win over UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 11 en route to her first collegiate three-point game. … Peterson recorded the fourth three-point game of her collegiate career against Saint Benedict on Nov. 23, tallying a goal and two assists in SMU's 4-0 win. … Saint Mary's had five players score their first collegiate goals last season — Paschke, Lien, Cwik, and Taylor Pogreba (St. Paul, Minn.), Jane Hannula (Coon Rapids, Minn.), and Ingrid Curwin (Duluth, Minn.). … Saint Mary's 58 goals came from 15 different players. … Saint Mary's scored three shorthanded goals last season—with Lien accounting for two of them. … All three of Saint Mary's shorthanded goals came in the third period. … Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) closed out her senior year as the team's top goalie, compiling a 2.29 goals-against-average and a .915 save percentage, with four shutouts. … Marah Shields (Mitford, Mich.) stopped a career-high 36 shots in the Cardinals' 2-2 tie vs. St. Norbert on Jan. 15, and owned a 3.61 GAA and .881 save percentage this season. …  The Cardinals posted a season-high 52 shots on goal in their 3-0 win over UW-Eau Claire on Jan. 10. It was the most shots on goal since Feb. 25, 2004, when the Cardinals peppered Hamline with 53 shots. … Saint Mary's scored 42 of its 58 goals after the first period—netting 21 goals in the second and 21 more in the third. … The Cardinals scored first in 13 of their 25 games — including seven of their nine wins. Saint Mary's was just 2-10-0 when its opponent scored first. … Saint Mary's collected three series sweeps last season—beating Hamline 2-1 and 5-3, topping UW-Eau Claire 3-0 and 5-1, and sweeping Saint Benedict 3-1 and 4-0. … Saint Mary's faced a pair of nationally ranked teams this season, falling to then-sixth ranked Gustavus 8-2 and dropping a 2-1 decision to then-ninth ranked St. Scholastica. … The Cardinals have faced St. Scholastica twice in the program's history — with the Saints winning both games by identical 2-1 scores.
 
Scouting The UW-Superior Yellowjackets:
2014-15 Roster | 2014-15 Schedule | 2014-15 Statistics
The Yellowjackets got off to a flying start, opening the season by outscoring Augsburg 12-4 in winning both games of the teams' nonconference season-opening series last weekend, before suffering their first defeat of the year with a 3-1 decision to Gustavus on Tuesday. … UW-Superior's 12 goals last weekend came from eight different players—including two goals from Haley Adair, Emily Heid, Kiara De Kezel and Haley Olmstead. … Mikayla Goodin, Karen Larson, Kelly Cockerill and Amanda Coey also scored for the Yellowjackets vs. Augsburg last weekend, while Maggie Cragg netted her first of the season to account for UW-Superior's lone goal against Gustavus Tuesday. … UW-Superior netted four special-teams goals last weekend against Augsburg, including three power play tallies and one shorthanded goal. … Kim Kobar and Megan Leikkari—who will be looked on to fill the void left by the graduation of Shanley Peters, who started all but one game in goal a year ago—each had a start against Augsburg last weekend, with each giving up two goals. … Kobar finished with 18 saves in her start vs. the Auggies, while Leikkari made 17 saves.  Leikkari followed that up with a 26-save performance against the Gusties on Tuesday. … UW-Superior scored four goals in all three periods in its two games vs. Augsburg last weekend, and netted its fifth third-period goal Tuesday vs. GAC. … UW-Superior's opponents have scored five of their seven goals in the second period. … The Yellowjackets were picked second behind UW-River Falls in the WIAC Coaches Poll.