WINONA, Minn. - With a strong fan turnout for Friday night's home game against the St. Scholastica Saints (4-14), the Saint Mary's women's hockey team (12-5) delivered an impressive performance! A dominant four-goal surge in the first period led the Cardinals to a convincing 5-2 home victory over the Saints.

Five different Cardinals scored, with Anna Braun, Isabelle Norris, Reese Heitzman, Kas Kingston, and Mikayla Vasilevich each contributing a goal for the team. Freshman Norris netted her first collegiate goal.

The Cardinals opened the first period strongly, winning multiple faceoffs and applying pressure with several shots on goal. Braun scored the team's first goal at 12:58, assisted by Celia Midtbo and Teagan Phillips. 
 
The team continued their momentum with Norris scoring at 12:18, followed by two goals in under two minutes from Heitzman at 1:33, and Vasilevich at 0:53, resulting in a 4-1 lead by the end of the period. 
 
The crowd erupted.
 
The strong start from the Cardinals slowed. Saint Mary's dominated possession while outshooting the Saints for much of the second half but neither team was able to score, ending the second period at 4-1.
 
The third period saw the Cardinals maintain their lead with a power-play goal by Kingston at 11:09, assisted by Jenna Kurkowski and Sidney Polzin, marking Kingston's third goal of the season. 

The Saints answered with a goal at 10:50, but the Cardinals defense, supported by goaltender Celeste Rimstad, shut down any further attempts, sealing a 5-2 win.

The Cardinals will wrap up their weekend series against the Saints tomorrow with a 2 p.m. home game.