WINONA, Minn. — In her first season as a goalie for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team, Marah Shields (Milford, Mich.) recorded a career-best 36 saves against St. Norbert on Jan. 15, 2014.
 
As a sophomore, Shields upped the ante a bit, stopping a new career-best 40 shots against Gustavus on Jan. 24, 2015.
 
In other words, in her first two seasons in a Cardinal uniform, Shields stopped a combined 76 shots in her top two collegiate performances.
 
She bettered that by three—in her first start of the 2015-16 season.
 
Shields recorded a jaw-dropping 79 saves for the Cardinals in their 2-0 nonconference loss to UW-Superior last Saturday—a performance that not only shattered the school record, but also earned the junior goalie Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Player of the Week honors.
 
Shields was a human brick wall for the Cardinals against the high-powered Yellowjackets, stopping the first 60 shots she faced—including 22 in the first period and 33 more in the second—before UW-Superior finally broke through with a pair of third-period tallies.
 
With her 55 saves through the first two periods, Shields equaled the school's previous single-game saves record—set by Nikki Jung against Gustavus on Jan. 21, 2005. The Cardinal junior added 24 saves in the third period to run the new school mark to 79.
 
Shields' 79-save effort is not only a school record, but it's also the highest save total ever recorded by an MIAC women's hockey goalie— and ranks sixth all-time in NCAA Division III women's hockey history.
 
Shields and the Cardinals—who split their season-opening nonconference series against UW-Superior, kick off conference play on Nov. 13, when they host Bethel in a 7 p.m. MIAC matchup at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.