LISLE, Ill. — Through their first six games, the Saint Mary's University women's soccer team had scored seven goals — including three off the foot of freshman Amy Cory (Crystal Lake, Ill.).

In fact, SMU has gotten a goal from their freshman forward in the three games in which the Cardinals scored.

Make that in each of the four games.

Cory erupted for three goals — netting her first collegiate hat trick — as SMU won its second straight game, beating Benedictine 3-1 in a nonconference match Sunday afternoon.

Cory, who scored a pair of goals in SMU's 6-1 rout of Rockford on Friday, a game that snapped SMU's season-opening five-game winless streak (0-4-1), got the Cardinals on the board at the 34-minute mark, beating Benedictine goalie Kiera Vizza to tie the game at 1-1.

The SMU freshman added her second goal just before the half ended, taking a feed from Kelli Krmpotich (Minneapolis, Minn.) off a free kick and beating Vizza to give the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage at halftime.

The Cardinals made it 3-0 when Cory netted her sixth of the season, on an assist from Ashley Kirkman (Stillwater, Minn.) at the 55-minute mark.

SMU, which has now won two straight for the first time since the middle of the 2003 season — when the Cardinals beat Bethel and Carleton — returns to conference play on Wednesday, traveling to Augsburg for a 5 p.m. game.