WINONA, Minn. — It doesn't quite qualify as an offensive onslaught, but the six goals that the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team scored last weekend were more than enough to get their offense back on track.

And get the Cardinals back in the win column.

Last Friday night, SMU dominated Hamline from start to finish — holding the Pipers to just seven shots on goal — en route to a 4-0 Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference victory at the SMU Ice Arena.

Less than 24 hours later, the Cardinals were back at it, firing 36 more shots on the Hamline net — getting a first-period goal from Amy Madden (Grand Rapids, Mich.) and a third-period tally from Jenna Roland (Boyne City, Mich.) — en route to a 2-0 victory and a sweep of the MIAC series.

"It was a good weekend for us," said SMU coach Duncan Ryhorchuk, whose team snapped a three-game losing streak with Friday's win — and improved to 11-0-0 all-time vs. the Pipers. "Statistically, when you look at common opponents, we are pretty even (with Hamline). But player-for-player, there's no question we are the better team, and we proved that tonight."

The Cardinals, who scored more goals in Friday's win than they had in their previous three games combined, jumped on the Pipers early, getting first-period goals from Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) and Megan Chown (Onalaska, Wis.).

SMU, which held Hamline to just one shot on goal over the game's opening 20 minutes, continued to play stifling defense in the second period as Cardinal goalie Nikki Jung (Inver Grove Heights, Minn.) faced just two second-period shots. Offensively, SMU continued to swarm Hamline goalie Alysha Huberty, getting goals from Jenn Shire (Anaheim Hills, Calif.) and Aja Walters (Fairmont, Minn.) to take a commanding 4-0 advantage on the scoreboard — and a 25-3 edge in shots on goal — into the third period.

"We created a lot of really good scoring opportunities, and it was nice to see us finally get some of those shots to find the back of the net," said Ryhorchuk, whose team held Hamline without a shot on goal for the first 17 minutes of the third period Friday, before three straight Cardinal penalties helped pave the way to four third-period Hamline shots. "I was happy with our performance, but I wouldn't say I'm completely satisfied, either. When you put 79 shots on goal in two games, you should come away with more than six goals.

"It's good to get back in the win column — we needed a weekend like this to help our confidence," continued Ryhorchuk. "Hopefully that confidence will keep building and it carries over into this weekend series against Gustavus."