St. Kate's and St. Olaf squared off in another intense game. After the first two periods nearly mirrored yesterday's game, the Wildcats fought hard hard in the third to earn a series split.
The Wildcats came out strong, and dominated play in the first period. They out shot the Oles 12-6 in the opening period. Despite some good scoring chances, the game remained scoreless until the 14:17 mark in the first period. That is when
Cassie Rooney put the puck in the back of the net.
Michaela Michaelson and
Kelsey Abrahamson assisted on Rooney's fourth goal of the season.
A little over four minutes into the second period, Rooney struck again. This time she light the lamp on the Wildcats powerplay with assists from
Meghan Lange and
Katie Lawler.
However, just like the previous night, the Oles fought back from a 2-0 deficit. The Oles controlled the play for much of the final ten minutes of the second period. Kim McClintick scored two goals in a five minute span, the final one coming just seven seconds before the second intermission, to tie the game at 2-2.
The third period was an intense back-and-forth battle. Though the Wildcats were outshot 11-7 in the third, Kelsey Abrhamson's goal at the 11:27 mark proved to be the game winner for St. Kate's. Michaelson picked up her second assist of the night, and Rooney, who played an outstanding game for the Wildcats, picked up the other assist on the game winner. Rooney ended the weekend with four points on two goals and two assists.
A pleased Coach Marshall stated that, "we're excited about the way we played this weekend. We got a good reminder on the importance of playing a full 60 minutes on Saturday, and today we applied that lesson. The women played hard today and took advantage of the chances."
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 6-2 in MIAC play, and 10-3 overall. Their 12 points in conference play also put them into sole posession of second place, one point behind league leader St. Thomas.
The WIldcats return to action at 7pm on Friday 1/29 at Gustavus. They host the Gusties on the 30th starting at 12:00 pm.
Box Score