WINONA, Minn. — For the second straight game, St. Olaf scored the game's first goal in its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup against the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team.
 
And for the second game in a row, that inaugural goal served as a bad omen for the Oles.
 
Saint Mary's answered St. Olaf's first-period goal with three consecutive second-period tallies, as the Cardinals — who had four players score for the second straight game — completed its conference sweep of the Oles with a second straight 5-2 victory Saturday afternoon at the SMU Ice Arena.
 
Despite dominating the game's opening period — outshooting the Oles 15-4 — the Cardinals headed into the first intermission staring at a 1-0 deficit. St. Olaf broke the 0-0 stalemate with just 1:30 to play in the opening period, when Solvei Berg-Messerole snuck one past SMU goalie Celeste Rimstad (Richfield, Minn.) for the only goal of the frame.
 
Whatever coach Chad Davis said to his Cardinals between the first and second periods seemed to do the trick, however, as Saint Mary's came out and scored twice in the opening three minutes to grab a 2-1 lead.
 
Teagan Phillips (Oregon, Wis.) pulled the Cardinals even with her second goal in as many games just 1:42 into the middle period, and Sophia Paduano (Westby, Wis.) followed with her second of the series 49 seconds later to give SMU its first lead of the game, 2-1.
 
Reese Heitzman (Hermantown, Minn.) would become the third Cardinal to score for the second consecutive game, tallying her team-leading 13th of the season with 1:41 to play, giving SMU a two-goal cushion, 3-1, heading into the third period.
 
Jenna Kurkowski (North Branch, Minn.) — the first Cardinal not to have scored in Friday's 5-2 win over the Oles — beat St. Olaf goalie Carley Tuman just 1:33 into the third period to push the SMU lead to 4-1.
 
The Oles cut into the Cardinal lead on a power-play goal by Molly Terebayza midway through the third period, but by then, the damage had been done, and the Cardinals would not let St. Olaf get any closer — tacking on an insurance goal by Kenzie Meland (Zimmerman, Minn.) in the waning seconds to seal the sweep.
 
The Cardinals (5-3-0 MIAC, 10-4-0 overall) are back in action next weekend with a pair of MIAC games against St. Catherine. SMU will head to Drake Arena in St. Paul, Minn., for Friday's 7 p.m. showdown with the Wildcats, before the two teams head to the SMU Ice Arena for Saturday's 2 p.m. rematch.
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