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MINNEAPOLIS, Minn. — After scoring five goals in their Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference split against St. Olaf last weekend, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team's offense decided to take an ill-timed hiatus Friday evening.

Augsburg scored single goals in each of the first two periods, then added a pair of empty net tallies late in the third, as the Auggies handed SMU a 4-0 conference setback at Ed Saugestad Arena.

"It really wasn't a four-goal game," said SMU coach Terry Mannor. "I thought we played pretty well — we had a couple of breakdowns that hurt us, and they scored two empty netters late.

"Give Augsburg credit — they played very well defensively and got very good goaltending."

The Auggies accounted for the only scoring in the first period, as Rachel Hennessy needed just 77 seconds to put Augsburg on the board.

Kayla Fuechtmann scored midway through the second period to make it 2-0, then netted the first of the Auggies' two empty net goals at 18:07 to give Augsburg a 3-0 advantage. Callen Naasz rounded out the scoring, hitting the empty net exactly one minute after Fruechtmann.

Sarah Gustafson (Esko, Minn.) made 24 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Brianna Schultz posted a 35-save shutout in goal for the Auggies.

SMU (4-9-0 MIAC, 6-13-1 overall) gets another shot at the Auggies on Saturday, as the Cardinals host Augsburg in the second game of their two-game conference series. Opening face-off is set for 2 p.m. at the SMU Ice Arena.