BLAINE, Minn. — Through their first two games of the season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team had the upper hand in each of the first two periods—holding a 1-0 edge in the first and a 3-1 advantage in the second.
In fact, six of the seven goals allowed by the Cardinals in their season-opening weekend sweep of Marian and St. Norbert came in the game's final stanza.
The final period wasn't the problem Friday evening—and neither was the opening period.
It was the middle one that did the Cardinals in.
Bethel erupted for five second-period goals, erasing 1-0 and 2-1 Saint Mary's leads in handing the Cardinals a 6-2 setback in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference opener for both teams at the Schwan's Super Rink.
"That was a tough one," said Saint Mary's coach
Terry Mannor. "I thought we played pretty well in the first period, but Bethel definitely had the upper hand the rest of the way.
"It's definitely not the way you want to open the conference season, but just we have to regroup, put this game behind us and focus on (Saturday)."
Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.) opened the scoring for the Cardinals, netting her first goal as a Cardinal at 12:30 of the first period.
And thanks to the play of
Marah Shields (Milford, Mich.)—who stopped 15 of the 16 first-period shots she faced—the Cardinals maintained that 1-0 advantage heading into the locker room after 20 minutes of play.
The Cardinals' lead evaporated four minutes into the second period on a goal by Sarah Moy at 3:59, but the game did not stay deadlocked long, as
Kassie Lien (Grantsburg, Wis.) took a feed from
Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) and beat Bethel goalie Maggie Straka for her second of the season—and a 2-1 Cardinal advantage.
Unfortunately, the rest of the second period belonged to the Royals, who would score four more times—including three in a seven-minute span—to give Bethel a commanding 5-2 edge heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
And the 15-minute intermission break did nothing to cool the Royals' offense, as Wendy Roberts—who scored BU's final goal of its five-goal second period with just nine seconds remaining—recorded her second straight goal 2:11 into the third period to give Bethel a 6-2 cushion.
Shields finished with 24 saves through two periods, with
Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.) stopping nine of the 10 shots she faced in the third period. BU's Straka kicked out 20 of the Cardinals' 22 shots in posting the win for the Royals.
Saint Mary's (0-1-0 MIAC, 2-1-0 Overall) will look for a split in their two-game MIAC series against the Royals on Saturday, as the Cardinals entertain BU in a 2 p.m. rematch at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
