RIVER FALLS, Wis. — In each of their first three games, the Saint Mary's University men's hockey team allowed five goals against.

During that same span, the Cardinals' offense was also in mid-season form, netting 12 goals — including a season-high six in Friday's 6-5 win over UW-Stout — in settling for a 1-1-1 record through the season's opening three games.

Saturday evening against UW-River Falls, SMU held the Falcons one goal under that five-goal average.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their offense picked the wrong time to take an early-season break, managing just two goals in falling to UW-River Falls 4-2.

UW-River Falls jumped out to a 2-1 first-period advantage, sandwiching goals from Tyler Kostiuk and Jim Murphy around a powerplay goal by SMU's Marcus Reszka (Winona, Minn.).

The Falcons padded that lead to 4-1, scoring the lone goal of the second period, then scoring again three minutes into the third, before SMU's Lenny Hofmann (Sartell, Minn.) cut the gap to 4-2 midway through the third period.

Ryne Ess (Eden Prairie, Minn.) finished with 26 saves for SMU (1-2-1 overall), while the Falcons' Andy Scanlon stopped 28 shots.