WINONA, Minn. — Nerves? What nerves?
 
With a new coach and seven freshmen in the 19-player lineup — including four of the six starters — it would almost be expected that the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team came out with a few first-game jitters against Lake Forest Friday evening.
 
Almost.
 
It may have been the first game for Chad Davis behind the bench as SMU's head coach and for those seven freshmen donning the Cardinal uniform for the first time, but the Cardinals played like wily veterans in racking up win No. 1 on the season, coasting to a 7-0 nonconference win over the Foresters at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
Saint Mary's wasted no time lighting the lamp against the Foresters — and it was one of those freshmen doing the honors, as Ella Hennes (Ramsey Minn.) netted her first goal as a Cardinal just 1:38 into the opening period.
 
And the Cardinals were off and running.
 
Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.) would add her first of the season at 10:42 of the opening frame, and the Cardinals — bolstered by a 15-4 edge in shots on goal — carried that two-goal cushion into the intermission.
 
As quick as the Cardinals got on the board in the first period, they were even quicker in the second, as Jordy Wyant (Winnipeg, Manitoba) needed just 1:37 — one second faster than Hennes' first-period tally — to extend the SMU lead to 3-0.
 
Taverie Sherner (Maple Grove, Minn.) got into the act at the 4:05 mark of the middle frame, banging a rebound past Forester goalie Donna Fowler, and Kennedy Kraus (Kasson, Minn.) and Ellie Hegdahl (Brookings, S.D.) added back-to-back goals less than two minutes apart to make it a 6-0 SMU lead — with 11 minutes of the second period still to play.
 
Maggie Albers (Maple Grove, Minn.) netted her first as a Cardinal at 13:39 of the second to cap SMU's five-goal second period — giving SMU a commanding seven-goal cushion heading into the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Saint Mary's would not find the back of the net in the third period, but the damage had already been done, as the Cardinals cruised to their highest offensive performance since blanking Lawrence by an 8-0 count on Dec. 10, 2022.
 
Cardinal goalie Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) stopped all 10 shots she faced in recording her third career shutout, while a pair of Forester goalies combined to stopped 29 of SMU's 36 shots on goal.
 
The Cardinals (1-0-0 overall) and Foresters will go at it again on Saturday in the second game of their two-game nonconference series. Opening face-off at the SMU Ice Arena is slated for 2 p.m.
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