By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
BLAINE, Minn. — Coming off a heartbreaking, 3-2 overtime loss to Bethel in the first game of the teams' Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team was looking to crank its offense into high gear in the rematch.
 
Bethel, however, hand other ideas, limiting Saint Mary's to scoring from just one player.
 
And what a player it was.
 
Bailey Wendt (Coon Rapids, Minn.) became the first Cardinal since 2001 to score four goals in one game, as the Cardinal junior accounted for all the Saint Mary's offense in its 4-2 win over the Royals at the Schwan's Super Rink.
 
Wendt, no stranger to hat tricks—having notched her first collegiate three-goal game earlier this season—is the first Cardinal since Emily Kearns during the 2003-04 season to record two hat tricks in a single season. Kearns scored three times against Hamline on Nov. 15, 2002, before adding a second three-goal game against these same Royals on Jan. 22, 2003.
 
The Cardinals and Royals did not waste any time getting the scoring started, with both teams finding the back of the net before the game was three minutes old.
 
Wendt kicked off the scoring at 1:40 of the opening period, only to have Bethel's Erika Geary answer 25 seconds later to make it 1-1.
 
The Royals took their first—and only—lead of the game at 11:34 of the second period on a goal by Kaitlyn VanTassel, but Wendt heaved the Cardinals on her shoulders and took the game over.
 
The Cardinal junior scored goal No. 2 three minutes after VanTassel's tally, then ncompleted the hat trick less than two minutes later to give Saint Mary's the lead for good, 3-2.
 
Wendt rounded out the scoring early in the third period, giving the Cardinals some breathing room with goal No. 4 of the game—and 13th of the season.
 
Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) picked up assists on two of Wendt's four goals, while Molly Abraham (Sterling Heights, Mich.) and Mandy Sailor (Ramsey, Minn.) also picked up helpers.
 
Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.) made 37 saves in goal for the Cardinals—13 in the first period, and 12 more in both the second and third—while Michelle Klimstra stopped 18 of Saint Mary's 22 shots on goal.
 
The Cardinals (5-7-2 MIAC, 8-11-2 overall) are back in action next weekend, squaring off against Hamline in a pair of MIAC contests. Saint Mary's hosts the Pipers in a 7 p.m. contest at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, with the two teams heading to the Minnesota Wild TRIA Rink in St. Paul, Minn., for Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch.