St. Mary's Game 1 Recap

Courtesy of GoCobbers.com, Release: January 27

Gameday Scoring Summary

Team	1st	2nd	3rd	Total
Concordia	0	0	0	0
St. Mary's	0	1	1	2

Gameday Game Recap

WINONA, Minn.-- Concordia couldn't replicate their third-period magic from five days ago and lost 2-0 to St. Mary's in Winona.

The teams were practically even in every offensive statistical category with the Cardinals holding a 31-30 edge in shots. Neither team was able to outshoot their opponent by more than a single shot in any period.

The difference came from the play of the special teams. The Cobbers went 0-for-8 on the power and conceded a game-changing shorthanded goal at the start of the third period.

The loss snaps Concordia's recent success streak. The Cobbers were 4-1-1 in the six games before Friday night's contest. The loss drops Concordia into a tie for fifth place with Bethel. The Royals beat St. Ben's on Friday and both teams now have 10 league points.

Concordia watches their conference record fall to 4-5-2 and their overall mark slide to 4-9-3. St. Mary's wins for the first time in four games. They are now 3-6-2 in league play and only two points behind the fifth-place tie. The Cardinals push their overall record to 4-10-2.

The first period was played at a fast pace with the 20-minute, stop-action frame taking less than 30 minutes. Neither team was able to score and the Cobbers were held scoreless in the only power play of the period. Concordia held a 7-6 advantage in shots in the first period.

The second period was more of the same until Amy Madden scored her fourth goal of the season at the 12:41 mark. Given the circumstances and the flow of play, the goal was a huge lift and proved to be insurmountable.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the third period and given the momentum of being on the power play courtesy of a late second-period checking call, the Cobbers committed the proverbial Cardinal sin by allowing a shorthanded goal just :45 into the final period. Laura Mueller's goal gave St. Mary's a two-goal cushion.

The loudest offensive push for the Cobbers came in the final two minutes when they were able to fire five shots on goal. Concordia had 13 total in the period.

For the game, Concordia goalie Jenna Johnson made 29 saves. She is now 4-8-3 on the year. Cardinal netminder Nikki Jung stopped all 30 shots she faced to earn her 10th career shutout.

The two teams will finish their series on Saturday, Jan. 28 at 2:00pm in Winona. The game can be heard live via

the St. Mary's web site at:

http://sports.smumn.edu/general/webcasts.html