WINONA, Minn. — It took the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team seven years to end a 14-game winless streak against Augsburg.

But it took the Cardinals just 24 hours to start a streak of their own.

Fueled by Al Schumacher's (Oakdale, Minn.) two goals, the Cardinals completed their first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep of the Auggies since the 1995-96 season wtih a 5-0 win lsat Saturday.

The Cardinals, who opened the series with a 3-2 win on Friday that gave SMU its first win over Augsburg since Feb. 21, 1997, left little doubt on Saturday — outshooting the Auggies 20-5 in the first period en route to a 3-0 advantage after the game's opening 20 minutes.

"We came out in the first period and played very, very well," said SMU coach Don Olson. "I don't know how many of the guys really got too caught up (in the winless streak vs. the Auggies), but it's nice for them to finally get a win against them. We've had so many games in the past few years that we've dominated in shots on goal, but came out on the losing end on the scoreboard.

"This time around, we were fortunate enough to make enough of our shots count," continued Olson. "I think the guys realized after Friday's game that we needed to come out and take it to (Augsburg) right away. We couldn't afford to le them gain any momentum."

And they didn't.

Justin Brigl (Apple Valley, Minn.) opened the scoring for the Cardinals (5-3-0 MIAC, 10-6-1 overall) at the 3:34 mark, and Schumacher followed with back-to-back tallies six minutes apart midway through the period to give SMU a commanding 3-0 cushion.

Mark Zoller (Rochester, Minn.) made it 4-0 with his second-period goal, his second of the year, and Jason Fillipp (Fox River Grove, Ill.) closed out the scoring with his 11th of the season 5:51 into the third period.

Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) and Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.) combined on a 19-save shutout — SMU's first shutout victory since a 5-0 win over Bethel on Jan. 11, 2002. SMU, meanwhile, pelted Augsburg goalie Erik Young with 39 shots.

Things were much more nerve-wracking for the Cardinals on Friday.

After a scoreless first period, Chad Damerow (Albert Lea, Minn.) got SMU on the board at the 8:47 mark of the second period. Less than a minute later, Nick Meeker (Rochester, Minn.) made it 2-0, rifling a shot from the high slot that eluded the glove of Augsburg goalie Erik Young. Jake Wegscheider pulled the Auggies to within one, 2-1, at 13:53, banging a rebound past Ess.

Then came Fillipp's heroics, as he picked up a loose puck and beat Young — and the clock — scoring with five seconds left in the period to give SMU a 3-1 lead heading into the game's final 20 minutes.

Collin Nash netted a powerplay goal eight minutes into the third period to once again pull Augsburg to within a goal, but that was as close as the Auggies would get as Ess and Co. shut them down the rest of the way to preserve the win.

"This whole series was a real battle, both teams played hard," said Olson. "Both goalies played well — made some big saves. It really was one of those series that could have gone either way."

Fortunately for the Cardinals — and those seniors — it went SMU's way.