By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team came up empty against Concordia a year ago—thanks to Cobber goalie Andrea Klug, who stopped all 40 shots the Cardinals threw at her in the two-game series.
 
That all changed Friday evening.
 
The Cardinals—coming off a pair of three-goal games against Lake Forest weekend in a 3-2 win and 6-3 loss—were once again in high-octane form, erupting for three goals for the third straight game.
 
Unfortunately for coach Greg Moore, for the second consecutive outing, three goals was not enough, as Concordia—fueled by a pair of empty-net tallies in the game's final two minutes—dealt the Cardinals a 6-3 setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Saint Mary's did not waste any time ending its scoreless drought against the Cobbers, getting a goal from Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.)—off an assist from Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.)—2:35 into the opening period.
 
The Cardinals would maintain that lead until the 16:15 mark of the first period, when Concordia's Tori Davis netted her sixth of the season, beating Cardinal goalie Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.) with a wrist shot from the slot.
 
Unfortunately, the game stayed deadlocked for a grand total of seven seconds, as the Cobbers won the ensuring face-off and CC's Emily Goff deposited her sixth of the season past Concordia at 16:22.
 
Concordia would push its lead to 3-1, scoring the only goal of the second period—a Callie Fagerstrom power-play goal at 9:46—to give the Cobbers the two-goal edge heading into the game's final 20-minute period.
 
Goff netted her second of the evening—and seventh of the season—just 2:42 into the final period to give the Cobbers what appeared to be a commanding 4-1 cushion.
 
The Cardinals' Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.), however, had other ideas, as the sophomore defenseman scored back-to-back goals—the first at 4:45 and the second at 15:42—to trim the Cobbers' lead to one, 4-3.
 
That would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Amanda Flemming and Maiah McCowan each recorded empty-net goals in the final 1:21 to seal the Concordia win.
 
Saint Mary's outshot the Cobbers 36-31—rebounding from a slugging first period, in which the Cardinals were outshot 14-5, to hold 14-9 and 17-8 shots on goal advantages in the second and third periods, respectively.
 
Corcoran finished with 25 saves for the Cardinals, while Brittany Boss made 33 saves for Concordia.
 
The Cardinals (3-4-0 MIAC, 6-8-0 overall) and Cobbers (4-1-2 MIAC, 7-5-2 overall) return to the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Saturday for the second game of their two-game MIAC series. Game time is slated for 2 p.m.