By
DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team headed into Friday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against St. Olaf having scored three goals or less in each of its last nine games.
The Cardinals scored that many in the game's first 14 minutes against the Oles.
Saint Mary's erupted for three goals in a five-minute span midway through the first period, and never took its foot off the accelerator, as the Cardinals erupted for eight goals — their highest offensive output since scoring eight against Hamline in 2004 — en route to an 8-1 victory at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
St. Olaf kept the Cardinal offense at bay for the game's first nine minutes — and then the floodgates opened.
Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) got things rolling for Saint Mary's, scoring her team-leading 12
th goal at 9:16 of the first period, and, less than two minutes later, it was
Courtney Moser's (Blaine, Minn.) turn, pushing the Saint Mary's lead to 2-0.
Sydney Green (East Bethel, Minn.) got into the act three minutes after Moser's tally, netting her first collegiate goal on a nifty wrist shot over the shoulder of St. Olaf goalie Kaitlin Pellicci — one of three Ole goalies to see time between the pipes.
Saint Mary's picked up right where its left off in the second period, as
Carolyn Chrastka (Franklin Park, Ill.) became the fourth different Cardinal to score, tipping a
Natalie Ryan (Village of Lakewood, Ill.) slap shot past Ole goalie Ivy Shonka to push lead to 4-0.
The ballooned to 6-0 before the period was even half over — thanks to
Delaney Wolf's (Bismarck, N.D.) goal at 5:27 and Moser's second of the game two minutes later.
The Cardinals would maintain that 6-0 lead through the remainder of the second period — and five minutes into the third, when Ryan netted her third of the season to make it 7-0.
Jordan Modjeski (South Lyon, Mich.) rounded out the scoring for the Cardinals — netting her first collegiate goal to cap a four-point night.
The Oles' Jackie LaFaive foiled Saint Mary's goalie
Ary Ziakas' bid for her second career shutout, scoring St. Olaf's lone goal with 4:15 remaining in regulation.
Ziakas stopped 10 of the Oles' 11 shots on goal, while the trio of Ole goalies combined for 542 saves.
The Cardinals (4-9-2 MIAC, 7-12-3 overall) and Oles (0-15-0 MIAC, 0-20-2 overall) will now head to the St. Olaf Ice Arena in Northfield, Minn., for Saturday's second game of the teams' two-game MIAC series. Puck drop is set for 2 p.m.
