Game Summary

WINONA, Minn. — If Saint Mary's University women's hockey coach Duncan Ryhorchuk wasn't impressed with UW-Stevens Point the first time around, he certainly is now.

Less than 24 hours after the Pointers handed SMU a season-opening 3-1 loss, UW-Stevens Point erupted for three first-period goals and four more in the third period en route to a 7-0 nonconference victory Sunday afternoon at the SMU Ice Arena.

"They are a very good team," said Ryhorchuk, who admitted after Saturday's loss that he didn't feel the Pointers were that much better than his Cardinals. "They are like Middlebury was two years ago (when SMU faced them in the AWCHA national tournament) — they pass the puck well, they receive passes well, they skate well and they are good 1-on-1.

"Right now, we don't do any of those things that well, and that was the difference," Ryhorchuk continued. "I know it's early in the season and everyone realizes that we've got a lot of work yet to do, but if we are going to get to the level (Stevens Point) is at, we've got to get back to basics and improve our individual skills."

Speaking of individual skills, UW-Stevens Point's Jackie Schmitt certainly showed off hers Sunday, scoring all three Pointer goals in the first period as UWSP raced out to a commanding 3-0 advantage.

After a scoreless second period, UW-Stevens Point's offense got back on track, scoring the first of its four goals 23 seconds into the period. Tracy Truckey, Pam Stohr and Emily Teachout then put the game out of reach with goals less than six minutes apart midway through the period.

"We did not come out mentally ready to play," said Ryhorchuk, whose team had not lost back-to-back games since Dec. 7-8 — when they were spent by Gustavus — and had never opened the season 0-2. "It took us the whole first period just to wake up, then we played a pretty solid second period, and then we went back to sleep in the third period.

"I don't think I'm as upset about the losses as I am about the way we played," continued Ryhorchuk. "We were so erratic all weekend. We'd have our spurts where we played fairly well, but then there were other times when we couldn't seem to do anything right.

"It's a long season, and we've got a lot of work to do."