SUPERIOR, Wis. — For two periods, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team went toe-to-toe with the defending NCAA Division III national champs.

For one period, however, UW-Superior's one-two punch was too much for the Cardinals to handle, as the Yelllowjackets scored five unanswered goals to rally from a 3-1 deficit and KO the Cardinals 6-3 Saturday evening.

Al Schumacher (Oakdale, Minn.) put the Cardinals on the board first, netting his team-leading eighth goal of the season six minutes into the opening period. The Yellowjackets bounced right back, getting the equalizer three minutes later on a goal by Brent Halverson as the two teams battled to a 1-1 tie after one period.

Schumacher and Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) scored 27 seconds apart early in the second period to give the Cardinals a short-lived 3-1 advantage. Kyle Nosan scored a shorthanded goal at the 5:41 mark and Halverson tallied his second of the game with less than five minutes remaining in the period as UW-Superior tied the game 3-3 heading into the final period.

The Yellowjackets put the game away in the third period, scoring three times within a nine-minute span to snap SMU's two-game winning streak and their perfect 3-0 mark against nonconference opponents.

Dave Rogalski (St. Louis Park, Minn.) finished with 39 saves for the Cardinals (4-2-0), while UW-Superior goalie Mathieu Bonnelly stopped 14 of the 17 shots he faced.