APPLETON, Wis. — After managing just three goals on 60 shots on goal in Friday's 3-0 win over Lawrence, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team decided to turn up the offensive heat in the teams' rematch.
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Way up.
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Saint Mary's pelted Lawrence goalie Charlie Prior with 62 shots — the fourth-most in program history behind its 80 shots on goal against St. Olaf on Nov. 11, 2000 — and erupted for a season-high eight goals in cruising to an 8-0, sweep-clinching victory over the Vikings Saturday afternoon at the Appleton Ice Center.
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The Cardinals — who scored single goals in each period in beating Lawrence 3-0 on Friday — took a different approach to their second straight 1-0 first-period lead over the Vikings. After getting a goal from
Jenna Kurkowski (North Branch, Minn.) 37 seconds into the first period on Friday — the Cardinals waited until the period's final seven seconds before
Kas Kingston (Black Diamond, Alberta) would find the back of the net.
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Either way, the Cardinals headed into the locker room after 20 minutes leading Lawrence 1-0.
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And, after four straight one-goal periods against the Vikings, the Cardinals cranked things up a bit in Saturday's final two periods.
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Katie Devine (Glencoe, Minn.) scored her first goal of the season midway through the second to give SMU a 2-0 lead, and
Jenna Kurkowski (North Branch, Minn.) scored her second of the syear — and second in as many games — to push the SMU advantage to 3-0.
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But wait, the Cardinals weren't finished.
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Elle Hegdahl (Brookings, S.D.) tacked on Saint Mary's third goal of the period with less than two minutes to play to give the Cardinals a commanding 4-0 lead heading into the game's final 20-minute period.
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And while a three-goal second period was nice, a four-goal third was even better.
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Anna Braun (Mantorville, Minn.) kicked things off with her third of the season at 4:51 of the third period, and over the next 12 minutes,
Anne Carmean (Spring Lake Park, Minn.), Taryn Dornself (Somerset, Wis.), and
Leah Parker (Hudson, Wis.) would also find the back of the net.
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Along with their eight goals from eight different players — equaling the eighth-highest offensive effort in program history behind an 11-goal effort against Bethel on Jan. 4, 2002 — SMU also had four others pick up at least one assist. Devine, Kurkowski, and Kingston all had a goal and an assist, while
Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) had two assists, and
Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.),
Jordy Wyant (Winnipeg, Manitoba), and
Katie Pierpont (Holt, Mich.) each chipped in assists.
Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) stopped all 13 shots she faced en route to her first collegiate shutout, giving SMU goalies back-to-back shutouts on the weekend –Â
Jordan Keeley (St. Peter, Minn.) stopped 15 Lawrence shots in posting career shutout No. 4 on Friday.
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The Cardinals (3-9-0 overall) are now off until Jan. 7, when they will kick off the 2023 portion of their schedule with a 2 p.m. nonconference game against UW-Stevens Point at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
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