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2003-2004 Record: 6-4-0 MIAC / 9-5-1 Overall
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| Last Week's Results: Fri., Jan. 23: Saint Mary's 5, Augsburg 2 Sat., Jan. 24: Augsburg 2, Saint Mary's 1 |
| Upcoming Games: Fri., Feb. 6: Gustavus, 7:05 p.m. Sat., Feb. 7: at Gustavus, 3 p.m. |
| This and That: Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) had a hand in all five SMU goals in Friday's 5-2 win over Augsburg — scoring three goals and assisting on Melissa Mondo's (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) two goals. … Kearns' five-point night was one short of the single-game school record of six she shares with teammate Tennie McCabe (Rochester, Minn.). … Mondo scored SMU's lone goal in Saturday's 2-1 loss to Augsburg. … Kearns was held without a point vs. Augsburg Saturday, snapping her point streak at ninegames. … SMU's last three wins have all been by 5-2 counts (vs. Eau Claire, St. Benedict and Augsburg), while in their last four losses, the Cardinals have scored just one goal (vs. St. Benedict, St. Thomas, St. Thomas and Augsburg). … Kearns leads SMU in all three offensive categories — goals (14), assists (13) and points (27). … Goalies Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) and Amanda Gage (Lino Lakes, Minn.) have combined to post a 1.59 goals-against-average and a .938 save percentage. |
WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University hockey team's offense has two gears — high and low.
There is no in-between.
And, after three straight games stuck in low gear, the Cardinals finally got shifted into high last Friday evening, scoring five goals en route to a 5-2 win over Augsburg.
Unfortunately, as quickly as the Cardinals shifted gears, they down-shifted right back, as SMU once again found itself back to square one — as in one goal — in a 2-1 loss to Augsburg in last Saturday's rematch at the SMU Ice Arena.
The Auggies picked up both their goals Saturday in the first period as Stacy Anderson beat SMU goalie Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) twice – the first at 5:42 and then the eventual game-winner five minutes later.
"We came out in that first period (on Saturday) and did not play well at all," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk. "It was almost as if we just figured (Augsburg) was going to just roll over and play dead after the way we beat them on Friday.
"We played a little better in the second, and a lot better in the third, but it still wasn't anywhere near the type of effort we got on Friday."
SMU — which got three goals and five points from Emily Kearns (Hopkins, Minn.) and a pair of goals from Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) in Friday's victory — finally got on the board 11 minutes into the third period, when Mondo netted her third of the weekend on the powerplay.
After getting outshot 23-16 through the first two periods, the Cardinals erupted for 17 third-period shots, but only had Mondo's tally to show for their efforts. Augsburg goalie Kristin Johnson finished with 32 saves, while Jung had 26 saves for the Cardinals.
"It was good to see us finally score some goals again on Friday night," admitted Ryhorchuk, whose team not only ended its string of three straight one-goal games on Friday, but the Cardinals also snapped a three-game losing streak that went along with it. "It's just too bad we weren't able to carry that over (into Saturday's game).
"Hopefully we can bounce back," continued Ryhorchuk, whose team has nearly two weeks in which to get their offense out of its goal-scoring funk. "We get a little time off (SMU does not play again until Feb. 6 at home against Gusavus) — hopefully we can get things straightened out by then."