WINONA, Minn. — For the second time in as many games, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team got off to a roaring start against ninth-ranked UW-Superior.
 
Unfortunately, for the second time in as many games, it was the Yellowjackets who had the better finishing kick, as UW-Superior erased a 1-0 Saint Mary's lead with five unanswered goals in handing the Cardinals a 5-1 nonconference setback Saturday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Less than 24 hours after dropping a heartbreaking 3-2 overtime decision to the Yellowjackets—a game the Cardinals led a two separate occasions—Saint Mary's once again got on the board first in the teams' rematch Saturday.
 
"This was a great learning experience for us," said Saint Mary's coach Terry Mannor. "If you take away about an eight-minute stretch in the second period where we played in fear of (UW-Superior), I thought we played pretty well."

Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.) scored her first goal of the season, taking a feed from Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) and beating UW-Superior goalie Megan Leikkari eight minutes into the opening period.
 
That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offense.
 
The Yellowjackets, on the other hand, were just getting warmed up.
 
Lynne Larson would pull UW-Superior even with her third goal of the season at 16:08 of the opening period, and Amanda Larson, Haley Olmstead and Mikayla Goodin would also find the back of the net in the final two periods to lift the Yellowjackets to their fourth win in five games this season.
 
Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.) finished with 29 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Leikkari kicked out 23 of the 24 Saint Mary's shots she faced.
 
The Cardinals (0-2-0 overall) kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend, hosting St. Thomas in a 7 p.m. game at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to the St. Thomas Arena in Mendota Heights, Minn., for the 2 p.m. rematch on Saturday.