WINONA, Minn. — The Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team was in an ideal position to "steal" a win from St. Norbert Saturday evening.
 
Despite being outshot by more than a two-to-one margin, the Cardinals headed into the final five minutes of their nonconference game against the Green Knights clinging to a 2-1 advantage.
 
Unfortunately for coach Terry Mannor and the Cardinals, those final five minutes—and four minutes in the game's overtime period—were disastrous.
 
The Green Knights scored the game-tying goal with 4:47 remaining in the third period, then added the game-winner at 3:37 of the extra session, in handing Saint Mary's a heart-breaking 3-2 setback at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"That's a tough loss," said Mannor. "St. Norbert took it took us a bit, but we were in position to come away with a win—despite being out-played.
 
"Give St. Norbert credit—they played better than we did today."
 
After a scoreless first period, the Cardinals broke through at 7:41 of the middle period, as Jamie Henderson (Madison, Wis.) took a feed from Taylor Pogreba (St. Paul, Minn.) and broke in alone on SNC goalie Leigh Grall, beating her with a wrist shot to give Saint Mary's the 1-0 advantage.
 
An advantage that did not last two minutes.
 
Seina Stromer pulled the Green Knights even 1:21 after Henderson's goal, firing a shot that eluded Saint Mary's goalie Ashley Corcoran (Red Wing, Minn.) and found the back of the net.
 
It appeared like the two teams would take a 1-1 deadlock into the game's final 20 minutes, but the Cardinals' Macki Fadness (Eau Claire, Wis.) had other ideas, firing a wrist shot from the point that beat Grall with just nine seconds remaining.
 
Saint Mary's maintained that one-goal cushion—thanks in large part to the play of Corcoran, who made 17 third-period saves—until Lexi Pyyskkonen uncorked a shot on the power play that beat the freshman goalie, hit the underside of the crossbar, and found the back of the net.
 
The game remained deadlocked for the remainder of the third—and the first 3:37 of the OT—before Jillian Kosteck took a loose puck in front of Corcoran and scored her first goal of the season to give St. Norbert the come-from-behind victory.
 
Corcoran—making her collegiate debut—finished with 42 saves—12 in the first, 14 in the second and 17 in the third—while Grall stopped 14 of the Cardinals' 16 shots for the Green Knights.
 
The Cardinals (3-3-1 overall) return to conference play next weekend, hosting Concordia in a pair of Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference contests at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. Saint Mary's and CC will square off at 7 p.m. Friday night, before returning to the ice for the 2 p.m. rematch a day later.