THE MATCHUP

Saint Mary's vs. Augsburg vs. Friday, Feb. 18, 2005 SMU Ice Arena 7:05 p.m.

GAMEDAY PLAYER PROFILE

Laura Mueller Year Sophomore Position Forward Hometown St. Paul, Minn.

For the official GameDay Program for today's game pdf / click here (pdf)

WINONA, Minn. — When the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team entered the third period of last Saturday's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference game against St. Olaf trailing 2-1, Cardinals head coach Duncan Ryhorchuk had reason for concern.

When Melissa Mondo (Vadnais Heights, Minn.) scored one minute into the period to tie the game 2-2, Ryhorchuk should have breathed a sigh of relief — after all, that goal all but solidified an SMU win.

How could Ryhorchuk be so certain that Mondo's game-tying goal would result in an SMU win? Simple - the Cardinals have not lost this season when scoring two or more goals.

And SMU kept that streak alive at the SMU Ice Arena as Mondo's tally started a three-goal Cardinal onslaught as Saint Mary's rallied from that 2-1 deficit to beat the Oles 4-2 and earn a split in the teams' two-game conference series.

"That's a big win for us," said Ryhorchuk, whose team improved to 6-7-1 in the MIAC — and, more importantly, stayed one point ahead of St. Benedict in the race for the fifth and final MIAC playoff spot. "We knew coming into this game that it was important for us to get some points — we could not afford to get swept."

SMU came out with a real sense of urgency in the opening period Saturday, dominating the Oles on both ends of the ice. And, when the horn sounded to end the period, the Cardinals not only held a commanding 16-2 edge in shots on goal, but they also boasted a 1-0 lead - thanks to Rachel Harrison's (Madison, Wis.) got with 1:03 left in the period.

As good as SMU was in the first period, however, the Oles were just as good in the second period, as they turned the tables on the Cardinals, outshooting them 16-2, and outscoring them 2-0 to take that one-goal lead into the third period.

"We talked in the locker room (after the second period) about how we didn't play with any energy in that second period," said Ryhorchuk, whose team also scored the first goal in Friday's opener - again off the stick of Harrison — but then allowed St. Olaf to score three straight in falling 3-1. "We got that goal in the first period and dominated play and just figured that the whole game was going to go that way.

"We did the same thing Friday night and it cost us."

On Saturday, however, the Cardinals were able to right their sinking ship in time.

Mondo pulled SMU even one minute into the third period and Madeline Loftus (Parsippany, N.J.) and Jenna Roland (Boyne City, Mich.) added goals 3 and 4 before the third period was nine minutes old.

"It was good to see our offense get back on track a bit in that third period," said Ryhorchuk, whose team scored on three of its first four shots in the third period en route to equaling its highest offensive output of the season.

And the Cardinals' offense will need to remain in high gear this weekend, as SMU plays host to Augsburg in a key MIAC showdown.

The Auggies enter the weekend on the heels of five straight losses — including back-to-back setbacks to St. Thomas last weekend. Despite their current slide, however, Augsburg still remains one point ahead of SMU in the playoff standings.

“This is a big series,” understated Ryhorchuk. “We know it's going to be a battle from start to finish. We've just got to go out there and play the way we did (in last Saturday's win). I think we picked our game up a notch this weekend — and hopefully that can continue.”