WINONA, Minn. — Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey coach Terry Mannor knew one thing was going to be critical to his team's success against Lake Forest Friday afternoon—the Cardinals had to play better in the second period.
 
Through their first 11 games of the season, the Cardinals had been outscored by just two goals, 25-23—mostly glaring, however, was the fact that Saint Mary's opponents held a 12-6 scoring advantage in the middle period.
 
Thanks to a Mary DeBartolo (Chicago, Ill.) goal with 7:06 left in the middle stanza, the Cardinals outscored Lake Forest 1-0 in the second period.
 
And thanks to a goal by Jesse Cwik (Chicago, Ill.) early in the third period, Saint Mary's outscored the Foresters 1-0 in the third period.
 
Problem was, the Foresters held a 2-0 lead after the game's opening 20 minutes, as Saint Mary's and Lake Forest battled to a 2-2 overtime tie at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"That was a very good college hockey game," said Mannor, whose team moved to 5-5-2 overall with the tie. "I thought we came out a little slow in the first period, but we really picked it up over the second and third periods.
 
"Lake Forest is a very good team—traditionally one of the top teams in the West (Region)," Mannor added. "And they certainly showed that tonight."
 
Holly Lesperance and Michelle Greeneway got the Lake Forest off and running, as Lesperance scored 1:46 into the opening period, while Greeneway made it 2-0 nine minutes later.
 
From there, it was all Cardinals—offensively and defensively.
 
While DeBartolo and Cwik were providing the offense, goalie Tori Herrmann (Elk River, Minn.) was doing her part between the pipes for the Cardinals. The junior netminder finished with 27 saves, including a pair of point-blank, game-saving stops—one late in the third period and the other in OT.
 
"Tori played great—no question she kept us in the game," said Mannor, whose team—along with their two goals—also hit the pipe three times. "I was very pleased with the way we responded (to falling behind 2-0)—it was a solid team effort all the way around."
 
The Cardinals are right back in action Saturday afternoon, as Saint Mary's entertains seventh-ranked Adrian in a 2 p.m. nonconference game at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.

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