WINONA, Minn. — For the second game in a row, the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team had to settle for one goal in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against St. Catherine.
This time around, however, one goal wasn't going to cut it.
The Cardinals, coming off a 1-0 victory over the Wildcats on the road on Friday, managed just a late, third-period tally, while the Wildcats scored three times — once in the second period and twice more in the third — in dealing Saint Mary's a 3-1 conference setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
The Cardinals went into the locker room at the first intermission deadlocked with the Wildcats — thanks in large part to the play of SMU goalie
Ary Ziakas. Ziakas — coming off a 29-save shutout against SCU on Friday — stopped all 13 Wildcat shots she faced in the game's opening 20 minutes on Saturday.
After 80 scoreless minutes against the Cardinals' senior goalie, St. Catherine was finally able to put one past Ziakas, as Laura Denchfield broke the stalemate just 29 seconds into the second period — and the Wildcats would maintain that one-goal advantage through the rest of the middle frame.
Denchfield would score her second goal of the game at 7:27 of the third period, and Kaitlyn Blair would make it 3-0 just three minutes later. The Cardinals would finally get on the board 30 seconds after Blair's tally, as
Morgan Leib (Farmington Hills, Mich.) scored her third goal of the season — off an assist from
Amber Miller (Kasson, Minn.).
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinal would get, as Saint Mary's was forced to settle for a conference split against the Wildcats for the second straight year.
Ziakas finished with 21 saves in goal for the Cardinals, while SCU goalie Elizabeth Kubicek kicked out 15 of Saint Mary's 16 shots on goal.
The Cardinals (7-4-1 MIAC, 10-8-1 overall) are back in action next weekend, squaring off against Augsburg in a pair of conference contests. SMU will host the Auggies at 7 p.m. Friday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena, before the two teams head to Ed Saugestad Arena in Minneapolis, Minn., for Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch.
