By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
ADRIAN, Mich. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team returns to Adrian's Arrington Ice Arena on Sunday for the second game of its two-game nonconference series against the #3 Bulldogs. Opening face-off is set for 3 p.m. (EDT).
 
The Matchup:
• Saint Mary's Cardinals (0-1-0 Overall) at #3 Adrian Bulldogs (2-0-0 Overall)
 
GameDay Live On The Web:
• Live Stats
 
Last Night:
• Saturday, November 2 * Adrian, Mich.: Adrian scored the game's first three goals and held off a furious Cardinal rally, as the third-ranked Bulldogs dealt Saint Mary's a 3-2 setback | Recap
 
Up Next:
• Saint Mary's: The Cardinals are back on the road on Saturday, heading to W.H. Hunt Arena in River Falls, Wis., for a 2:05 p.m. nonconference showdown against UW-River Falls
• Adrian: After three straight home games over the weekend, the Bulldogs hit the road on Nov. 15-16, heading to Mequon, Wis., for a pair of games against Marian.
 
Scouting The Saint Mary's Cardinals:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• After giving up the game's first three goals, Saint Mary's scored back-to-back tallies — one in the second period and one in the third — in Saturday's 3-2, season-opening loss to No. 3 Adrian. … Saint Mary's 3-2 loss to Adrian Saturday snapped their four-year, season-opening winning streak. … Amber Miller (Kasson, Minn.) netted her first collegiate goal, while Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) accounted for the Cardinals' other goal vs. the Bulldogs Saturday. … Miller's goal at 13: 45 of the third period was the Cardinals' first of the season. … Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) collected Saint Mary's lone assist vs. the Bulldogs Saturday. … Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Minn.) stopped 27 of Adrian's 30 shots in her first start of the season. … The Cardinals made their first MIAC Tournament appearance since the 2015-16 season a year ago — and their 11th in program history — falling to fourth-seeded Gustavus 5-0 in the quarterfinals. … Saint Mary's closed out the season 3-3-2 in its last eight games — including a pair of losses to fourth-ranked Hamline and the other to Gustavus. … Saint Mary's closed out the regular season going 4-6-5 in its 15 road games, while sporting a 5-5-1 record on its home ice. … Nine of the Cardinals' last 13 games — including their regular season-ending 4-3, 2-1 sweep of St. Olaf on Feb. 15-16 — were decided by one goal or less. … The Cardinals' six ties last season equaled the single-season school record, last accomplished during the 2011-12 season, when Saint Mary's finished the year 7-12-6. … Saint Mary's scored first 13 times last season — including eight of its nine wins and five of its six ties. The Cardinals recorded their lone win (1-11-1) when their opponent scored first against St. Olaf on Feb. 15. … Saint Mary's was 8-1-2 when leading after two periods, but were winless (0-9-1) when trailing heading into the third period.
 
Scouting The Adrian Bulldogs:
2019-20 Roster | 2019-20 Schedule | 2019-20 Statistics
• Saturday's 3-2 win over Saint Mary's was the Bulldogs' second win in as many days. Adrian opened the season with a 4-1 win over Hamline on Friday night. … The Bulldogs have have a player score two goals in each of their first two games — Brianna Buchanan netted a pair of goals in Friday's 4-1 win over Hamline, while Abbie Grias scored twice against Saint Mary's on Saturday. … The Bulldogs are coming off a 24-5-2 season a year ago — including an appearance in the NCAA Tournament semifinals, where they fell to eventual national champion Plattsburgh State 4-1. Adrian closed out the year with a 1-0 win over St. Thomas in the NCAA Tournament third-place game. … Adrian entered this weekend's nonconference series against Saint Mary's ranked No. 3 in the USCHO.com Preseason Poll. … The Bulldogs' 4-1 loss to Plattsburg State in the national tournament semifinals snapped their 11-game unbeaten streak (10-0-1). … Nineteen of Adrian's 24 wins a year ago came during two lengthy winning streaks — one of nine straight and the other of 10. … Adrian returns three of its top four point-getters from a year ago, but will be without graduated seniors Tory Harshman — who led the team with 33 points — and Kortney Diaz, the team's goal-scoring leader with 16. … Adrian scored 118 goals a year ago, and boasted four players — Diaz (16), Harshman (14), Maggie Mittler (12), and Buchanan (10) — with 10 or more goals. … Denisa Jandova — who made 15 starts in goal for the Bulldogs a year ago, posting a 0.98 goals-against-average and a .952 save percentage — made 41 saves against Hamline on Friday, and followed that up with a 21-save effort against Saint Mary's on Saturday.
With the game's first goal against both Hamline and Saint Mary's, the Bulldogs scored first in 26 of their last 33 games, going 23-1-2. … Adrian, which was unbeaten (18-0-1) when leading after the second period last season, is 2-0-0 when holding the lead heading into the game's final period this season.