WINONA, Minn. — With the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team stuck in the middle of an early-season funk — including back-to-back losses to Augsburg that put the Cardinals in a 2-5-1 hole — coach Duncan Ryhorchuk reverted to an old coaching standby as his team completed preparation for its weekend series against unbeaten Concordia.

Go out and have fun playing the game of hockey.

And have fun the Cardinals did.

Friday evening, the Cardinals rode the stick of junior Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.), who scored two of SMU's three goals en route to a 3-2 victory.

And Saturday afternoon, the fun continued as Alissa Schultz (LeSueur, Minn.) netted her first goal of the season early in the second period as the Cardinals rallied for a 1-1 tie.

"It was a good weekend for us," said Ryhorchuk, whose team improved to 3-2-1 in the MIAC and 3-5-2 overall. "We talked all week about how we needed to get back to enjoying playing out there — we needed to have fun again.

"Yes, you want to be successful and you want to win games, but you always play your best hockey when you are just going out there and having fun.

"This was fun."

Katie Jacques got the Cobbers on the board first, tallying her team-leading eighth goal on the powerplay at the 11:56 mark of the first period. Schultz pulled the Cardinals even three minutes into the second stanza — with an assist going to the Cobbers.

Schultz was the beneficiary of a wide open net with which to score her game-tying goal as the Cobbers pulled their goalie thinking that a delayed penalty was going to be whistled on the Cardinals. Instead, the delayed call was against the Cobbers, and Schultz made Concordia pay for its mistake.

"It was certainly a strange play," admitted Ryhorchuk. "But it was one of those breaks that we needed to capitalize on, and we did.

"These players have proven over and over that they are going to battle right to the finish," said Ryhorchuk, whose team fell behind 2-0 early in the second period of Friday's game, but got two goals from Kearns and another from Jaimie Mussehl (South St. Paul, Minn.) in the final two periods to beat the Cobbers on Friday. "We got three out of four points on the weekend, and it put us right back in the hunt for the (conference) playoffs.

"Sure, it would have been nice to get four out of four (points), but three out of four is nice," Ryhorchuk continued. "We skated better, we moved the puck very well, we passed well … we just did the things that come naturally — and the more you relax and just play, the more success you are going to have."

• THIS AND THAT: Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) pushed her team-leading point total to six with a pair of goals vs. the Cobbers Friday evening. … Kearns has now scored six of the Cardinals' last eight goals. … Alissa Schultz's (LeSueur, Minn.) game-tying goal in Saturday's 1-1 tie was her first of the year. … Jaimie Mussehl (South St. Paul, Minn.) scored her first of the year in Friday's 3-2 win. … The Cardinals have been outscored 13-2 in the first period — and have not scored in the game's opening 20 minutes since Nov. 16 vs. Hamline. … With the win and the tie, SMU improved to 6-1-1 vs. the Cobbers all-time.