WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team turned the tables on St. Thomas Saturday afternoon—with impressive results.
The Cardinals, who surrendered three, third-period goals in Friday's 5-0 loss to the Tommies at the St. Thomas Ice Arena, gave UST a taste of its own medicine in the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference rematch at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
After spotting St. Thomas a 1-0 lead early in the final period, the Cardinals erupted for three unanswered goals—including two off the stick of
Molly Abraham (Sterling Heights, Mich.)—as Saint Mary's dealt the eighth-ranked Tommies their first loss of the season, 3-1.
The win not only snapped St. Thomas' season-opening five-game winning streak, but it also put an end to the Cardinals' 13-game winless streak against the Tommies (0-11-2)—dating back to a 2-1 Saint Mary's victory on Jan. 29, 2011.
After a pair of scoreless periods—including a second stanza that featured just six whistles—the Cardinals and Tommies decided to turn up the offensive heat over the game's final 20 minutes.
St. Thomas broke the ice six minutes into the third period, when Demi Cooper took a feed from Heidi Hannula and rifled a wrist shot through traffic and over the left shoulder of Saint Mary's goalie
Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.).
That, however, would be the last time the Tommies would get a puck past Corcoran—and the Cardinals' offense was just getting its offense shifted out of neutral.
Mady Bodick (Savage, Minn.) recorded her first collegiate goal, off an assist from
Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.), to pull the Cardinals even, and Abraham followed with back-to-back goals three minutes apart—including an empty net tally with 44 seconds remaining to seal the streak-snapping win.
Corcoran finished with a season-high 28 saves—including 12 in the second period, when Saint Mary's was outshot 12-3, and 11 in the third. Kenzie Torpy, who stopped all 14 Cardinal shots in Friday's win for her first shutout of the season, made 13 saves in goal for the Tommies.
The Cardinals (1-1-0 MIAC, 3-1-0 overall) are back in conference play next weekend with a pair of games against Augsburg. Saint Mary's and the Auggies will square off at 7 p.m. at the Ed Saugestad Rink in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday, before heading to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena for Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch.
