RIVER FALLS, Wis. — For the second night in a row, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team scored three goals Saturday evening.
This time around, however, three goals was more than enough for a Cardinal victory.
Saint Mary's — which dropped a 6-3 decision to UW-Stout on Friday — got goals from three different players, and a 22-save effort from
Connor Close (Des Moines, Iowa) in his first start of the season between the pipes, as the Cardinals snapped a two-game losing streak with a 3-1 win over UW-River Falls at Hunt Arena.
Unlike Friday's loss — in which Saint Mary's surrendered five unanswered goals, including four in the second period — this time around it was the Cardinals who strung goals together, rallying from a 1-0 deficit for the nonconference victory.
The Falcons grabbed the early lead on a goal by Cory Schillo just 5:41 into the opening period. The Cardinals would get the equalizer late in the opening period, when
Bud Winter beat Falcon goalie Dysen Skinner for his team-leading fifth goal of the season at 16:25.
The game would remain deadlocked heading into the third period, thanks in large part to the play of Close, who stopped 16 of the Falcons' 17 shots through two periods — including stopping UW-River Falls' Gibb Coady on a breakaway 11 minutes into the middle frame.
The Cardinals would finally break the stalemate less than three minutes into the third period, as
Trevor Schroder (Des Moines, Iowa) scored a power-play goal — off assists from
Brady Lindauer (Cary, Ill.) and
Trevor Wilhelm (St. Louis, Mo.) — to give SMU a 2-1 advantage.
Gabe Potyk (Lake Orion, Mich.) capped the scoring with a diving, empty-net tally with 2.8 seconds on the clock to seal the Saint Mary's victory.
The Cardinals (5-9-1 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend with a pair of conference games against Hamline. The Cardinals and Pipers will square off at 7 p.m. at the SMU Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to TRIA Rink in St. Paul, Minn., for the 7 p.m. rematch the following evening.
