WINONA, Minn. — New day, same story for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team.

For the second straight night, the Cardinals' offense pelted 48 shots on the Hamline net.

And for the second straight night, SMU had few goals to show for its efforts.

Fortunately — for the second straight night — "few goals" were more than enough as SMU completed its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference sweep of the Pipers, winning 4-1 Saturday evening.

"We played all right," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk. "It was almost an instant replay of (Friday night)."

And Ryhorchuk wasn't kidding.

Friday, SMU peppered SMU goalie Rachael Young with 48 shots en route to a 3-0 victory. Saturday, the Cardinals again swarmed the Piper net, finishing with 48 shots on goal.

"Offensively, we dominated the entire series," Ryhorchuk said. "But we just couldn't put the puck in the net.

"We created so many good scoring chances," continued Ryhorchuk. "But instead of burying the puck in the back of the net, we shot it into (Young's) chest protector, or pads, or gloves … . With 48 shots, you'd like to get more than three or four goals."

One SMU player who made the most of her scoring opportunities Saturday was junior Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.), who broke out of her five-game scoreless slump with three of the Cardinals' four goals Saturday.

Kearns, who led SMU in scoring a year ago with a school-record 32 goals, opened the scoring four minutes into the first period, taking a feed from Ann Kennedy and beating Young from out front. Hamline's Jeanne Schipper-Jobe pulled the Pipers even at the 13:53 mark as the two teams skated to a 1-1 tie after the game's opening 20 minutes.

From there, however, it was all SMU.

Kearns netted her second goal four minutes into the second period, and Jenna Hanifl (South St. Paul, Minn.) made it 3-0 early in the third period. Kearns rounded out the scoring — and completed the hat trick — with less than six minutes remaining in regulation.

With the wins, SMU improved to 2-0 in the MIAC and 2-3-1 overall.

"Obviously we would have liked to have started out the season a little better than we did," said Ryhorchuk, whose team opened the season 0-3-1, before sweeping the Pipers in their conference-opening series. "But right now we are tied for the conference lead, and that's right where we want to be.

"Hopefully, we can use the momentum we've gained from this and take it into next weekend's series against Augsburg."

* THIS AND THAT: Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) netted her first hat trick of the season — and fifth of her career — Saturday vs. the Pipers. … Jenna Hanifl (South St. Paul, Minn.) assisted on two of SMU's three goals in Friday's 3-0 win vs. Hamline, then scored the Cardinals' other goal in Saturday's rematch. … Goalie Nitara Frost (North Mankato, Minn.) stopped all 17 shots she faced for the shutout — the 11th of her career — and improved to 18-0-0 all-time. … Friday's win over the Pipers snapped SMU's season-opening four-game winless streak (0-3-1) — the longest such streak to open a season in Cardinal history. … Kearns and Hanifl currently lead the Cardinals in scoring with three points apiece. … SMU has been outscored 7-2 in the first period.