By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
ST. PAUL, Minn. — Friday nights have been kind to the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team through the first two weeks of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference season.
Saturday's … not so much.
For the second time in as many conference series, the Cardinals were unable to pick up a Saturday victory, as St. Catherine scored four unanswered goals — two in the second period and two more in the third — in dealing Saint Mary's a 4-1 setback at Drake Arena.
Saint Mary's, which scored single goals in all three periods in beating the Wildcats 3-1 on Friday at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena, got on the board first in the teams' rematch, as
Kayla Henning (Burnsville, Minn.) scored her second of the season six minutes into the opening period.
That, however, would be the extent of the Cardinals' offensive fireworks.
St. Catherine pulled even when Mari Reimer beat SMU goalie
Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.) at 12:01 of the second period. Two minutes later, the Wildcats had their first lead of the game as Laura Denchfield found the back of the net for a 2-1 SCU advantage.
Emilee Anderson scored her team-leading sixth goal of the season at 6:33 of the third period, and Denchfield netted her second of the game — an empty-netter with 40 seconds to play — to seal the victory.
Ziakas finished with 15 saves in goal for Saint Mary's, while Bryce Boreen stopped 23 of the Cardinals' 24 shots between the pipes for St. Catherine.
The Cardinals (2-2-0 MIAC, 2-5-0 overall) are now off until Dec. 6-7, when they return to conference play with a pair of games against nationally ranked Gustavus. Saint Mary's will entertain GAC in a 7 p.m. matchup at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Dec. 6, before heading to Gustavus' Don Roberts Ice Rink in St. Peter, Minn., for the 2 p.m. rematch the following afternoon. The Wildcats (1-3-0 MIAC, 4-3-0 overall) return home to the Drake Arena in St. Paul, Minn., on Dec. 7-8 for a pair of MIAC contests against Saint Benedict. SCU and CSB will play at 1:30 p.m. on Dec. 7, with the rematch taking place a 2 p.m. the next day.
