WINONA, Minn. — It took a little longer for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team to get its offense in gear, but once they shifted out of neutral, the Cardinals were unstoppable – again.
 
Less than 24 hours after erupting for seven goals — the first coming just 1:38 into the opening period of a 7-0 win over Lake Forest — the Cardinals were at it again in the rematch on Saturday.
 
Saint Mary's waited until the waning minutes of the opening period this time around, but the wait was worth as, as the Cardinals did their Friday performance once better, scoring eight times – including three in a one-minute span in the third period — en route to a sweep-clinching 8-0 win over the Foresters at the SMU Ice Arena.
 
Sophie Paduano (Westby, Wis.) became the eighth different player to score for the Cardinals when she found the back of the net with less than three minutes remaining in the opening period, giving Saint Mary's a 1-0 lead heading into the first break.
 
It didn't take the Cardinals nearly as long to net goal No. 2, or No. 3, when they returned to the ice for the second period — and the Cardinals continued to spread the wealth.
 
Mikayla Vasilevich (Chicago, Ill.) and Reese Heitzman (Hermantown, Minn.) became the ninth and 10th different SMU goal-scorers on the weekend — each netting their first collegiate goals in the opening 3:52 to extend Saint Mary's lead to 3-0.
 
And the Cardinals were just getting warmed up.
 
Heitzman and Vasilevich each netted their second goals of the afternoon — sandwiching third-period tallies around a goal by Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.) — before Heitzman completed her first collegiate hat trick and Kennedy Kraus (Kasson, Minn.) added her second in as many nights to round out the Cardinals' five-goal third period.
 
Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.), coming off a 10-save effort in Friday's victory, stopped all 14 shots she faced in Saturday's rematch in recording her second consecutive shutout and the third of her collegiate career.
 
The Cardinals (2-0-0 overall) are back in action next weekend with a pair of games against Wisconsin state schools. SMU will host UW-Eau Claire in a 2 p.m. nonconference game at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena on Friday, before heading to Hunt Arena in River Falls, Wis., for a 7:05 matchup against nationally ranked UW-River Falls the following evening.
  Read Full Article