WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team held high-powered Augsburg off the scoreboard for the first 26 minutes of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game Friday evening.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, it only took Augsburg 27 seconds after its first goal to net goal No. 2, and the league-leading and nationally ranked Auggies never looked back in dealing Saint Mary's a 5-1 setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"That was not a 5-1 game—it was a much, much closer game than the final score would indicate," said Saint Mary's coach Terry Mannor. "I thought we did some very good things tonight—we played hard and battled, we just couldn't slow (Augsburg) down.
 
"Give (Augsburg) credit, they are a very talented team," Mannor added. "But I also thought we played much better than the final score might indicate."
 
After a scoreless first period—and a scoreless first 6:50 of the second stanza—the Auggies broke through on a goal by Jacie Hoehn. Twenty-seven seconds later, Bridget Wagner made it 2-0, but the two-goal lead did not last long, as Lindsay Paschke (New Prague, Minn.) cut the deficit to one, 2-1, with her second of the season at 11:15.
 
Dabry Lindgren pushed Augsburg's lead back to two, 3-1, before the second period ended, and Callen Naasz and Lindgren added third-period tallies to seal the Augsburg victory.
 
Marah Shields (Mitford, Mich.) finished with 15 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while Augsburg goalie Rebecca Sonnek kicked out 19 of the Cardinals' 20 shots.
 
The Cardinals (1-8-2 MIAC, 4-12-2 overall) and Auggies conclude their two-game conference series on Saturday, heading to Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis, Minn., for a 7 p.m. showdown.