By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — For the first time this season, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's soccer team surrendered the game's first goal Wednesday evening against UW-Stout.
 
In fact, when Bella Pedlar converted a free kick in the game's ninth minute, it was the first time this season the Cardinals had surrendered a goal.
 
It would also be the only time the Cardinals would surrender a goal Wednesday evening.
 
Which was good news for the Cardinals—and bad new for the Blue Devils.
 
Saint Mary's would score a pair of second half goals—one off the foot of Kassie Arriaga (Chula Vista, Calif.) and the other from Maura Michener (Winona, Minn.)—as the Cardinals rallied from that 1-0 deficit to beat the Blue Devils 2-1 in a nonconference game at Ochrymowycz Field.
 
The Cardinals were whistled for a foul just outside the box and Pedlar made them pay, rifling a free kick into the upper right corner, past the outstretched arms of Cardinal goalkeeper Gabriella Pederson (Chaska, Minn.).
 
And the Blue Devils would cling to that one-goal advantage through the remaining 36 minutes of the opening half.
 
Saint Mary's did not waste a lot of time netting the equalizer coming out of the halftime break, as Arriaga scored her third goal of the season in the 52^nd minute, and Michener—off an assist from Arriaga—gave the Cardinals the lead for good eight minutes later.
 
Pederson finished with a pair of saves, one in each half, while UW-Stout goalkeeper Claudia Anderson stopped five of the Cardinals' seven shots on goal.
 
Saint Mary's (3-0-0 overall) returns to action this weekend, traveling to Dubuque, Iowa, for an 11 a.m. nonconference game against 22^nd-ranked Loras on Saturday, before heading to Cedar Rapids, Minn., for a 1 p.m. matchup against Coe the following day.