STEVENS POINT, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University women's hockey team's nonconference matchup against UW-Stevens Point marked the first meeting of the season between the two teams.
 
Officially, that is.
 
The Cardinals and Pointers squared off for an exhibition game on Oct. 22, earning an "unofficial" 4-3 victory.
 
Tuesday evening was for keeps — and the Cardinals weren't messing around.
 
Saint Mary's scored the game's first five goals — including once in the first three minutes of each of the opening two periods — as the Cardinals rolled to their third straight win of the season, a 5-2 victory over the Pointers at K.B. Willett Arena.
 
With win, Saint Mary's improves to 7-2-0 overall, its best nine-game start since the program's second season in 1999-2000, when the Cardinals opened year 7-1-1.
 
Allie Urlaub (Burnsville, Minn.) got the Cardinals off and running, scoring the only goal of the opening period just 2:53 into the frame. Sophie Paduano (Westby, Wis.) tacked on the Cardinals' second goal before the second period was even two minutes old, and Sidney Polzin (Chippewa Falls, Wis.) made it a 3-0 SMU lead with her first of the season at 15:42 of the middle period.
 
Reese Heitzman (Hermantown, Minn.) — who came into the game sitting No. 3 in NCAA Division III in goals with nine — netted her team-leading 10th of the season four minutes into the third period, and Paduano added her second of the game three minutes later to extend the SMU advantage to 5-0.
 
UW-Stevens Point got a pair of goals seven seconds apart late in the period, but it was far too little, far too late, as the Cardinals locked up their third straight win.
 
Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.), who has started every game in goal for the Cardinals, made 10 saves, before giving way to Riley Vander Esch (Sioux Falls, S.D.), who stopped three of the five shots she faced in relief.
 
The Cardinals (7-2-0 overall) are now off until Dec. 1-2, when the square off against defending national champion and No. 1-ranked Gustavus in a pair of MIAC contests. SMU will host the unbeaten Gusties at 7 p.m. at the SMU Ice Arena on Dec. 1, before both teams head to Don Roberts Ice Arena in St. Peter, Minn., for the 2 p.m. rematch the following afternoon. 
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