WINONA, Minn. — If the start of this season is anything like the last three, it's pretty obivous that the Cardinals aren't exactly the fastest team out of the gates.

In 2000-2001, SMU was shut out by UW-River Falls 3-0 in its season-opener. A year later, UW-Superior spoiled the Cardinals' season-opener with a 5-2 win. And last year, it was UW-Stevens Point that rained on SMU's first-game parade with a 3-1 win.

Yet, in each of those three years, when the regular-season ended, the Cardinals's season didn't — as they qualified for post-season play all three years.

And that's a trend the Cardinals are hoping continues.

After all, for the fourth straight year, SMU lost its season-opener last Friday, failing to hold a two-goal first-period lead in losing to Lake Forest 3-2. SMU did manage to salvage a tie in the rematch, getting a third-period goal from Laura Mueller (St. Paul, Minn.) with five minutes remaining in regulation to give SMU a 2-2 tie.

"We played much better (Saturday), than we did the night before, which was good to see," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk. "(On Friday), we came out real hard and just dominated. We just couldn't sustain that high level of intensity. I don't know if we're not in 'game shape' yet or what, we just seemed to lose a step.

"(On Saturday), I thought we did a much better job of not letting down," Ryhorchuk continued. "We had more than our fair share of good scoring chances over the weekend, we just couldn't capitalize on enough of them."

If the Cardinals had any first-game jitters on Friday, they certainly didn't show as Jessica Ribish (Elm Grove, Wis.) scored on her first collegiate shot just 23 seconds into the first period. Ten minutes later, Ribish was at it again, netting Goal No. 2 to give the Cardinals what seemed like a comfortable 2-0 cushion.

"That first 15 minutes, we were flying out there," said Ryhorchuk. "It's not that Lake Forest played that much better (in the second and third periods), we just seemed to slow down a bit."

And when the Cardinals downshifted out of high gear, the Foresters took advantage, scoring twice in the second period, then getting the game-winner at 12:03 of the third period.

SMU again jumped out on top in Saturday's rematch, as Kate Williams (Minnetonka, Minn.) scored her first of the season with three minutes remaining in the second period. The lead, however, was short-lived as Lake Forest pulled even three minutes into the third period. The Foresters then took their only lead of the game midway through the period as Erin McGrath scored an unassisted goal, setting up Mueller's late-game heroics.

"Overall, it was an OK weekend — I thought we did a lot of good things," said Ryhorchuk. "But we also did some things that weren't so good — and those are the things we need to work on."