By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team entered Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference showdown against Saint Benedict having scored three goals in their last five games — a span of 300 minutes.
The Cardinals needed less than 11 minutes to score that many goals against the Bennies — and with
Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.) between the pipes, three goals was more than enough.
Saint Mary's put an end to its five-game losing streak — and picked up its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference win of the season in the process — as the Cardinals cruised to a 3-0 win over the Bennies at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
"It's good to get that first conference win," said Saint Mary's coach
Greg Moore. "I thought we came out and really dictated the pace of play early — and the result was a quick 3-0 lead.
"We weren't able to keep that pace up over the final two periods, but overall I was very pleased with our effort."
Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.) quickly gave the Cardinals a 1-0 lead, taking a feed from
Jordan Modjeski (South Lyon, Mich.) and beating CSB goalie Kailee Medved just 1:29 into the opening period.
Delaney Wolf (Bismarck, N.D.) made it 2-0 just over three minutes later, netting her second of the season off an assist by
Maddy Wallraff (Blaine, Minn.).
Ryan notched her second of the game — and fourth of the season — at 11:01 of the opening period, an unassisted tally, as the Cardinals took a commanding 3-0 lead into the locker room after the game's opening 20 minutes.
Neither team would find the back of the net through the second or third periods — thanks in large part to the play of Corcoran and Medved.
Corcoran stopped all 22 shots she faced en route to her first shutout of the season — and second of her career — while Medved shook off a shaky start to finish with 30 saves, including 11 in each of the first two periods.
The Cardinals (1-4-0 MIAC, 3-5-0 overall) and Bennies will meet again on Saturday for the second game of their two-game conference series. Game time at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena is set for 2 p.m.
