Box Score
After dropping a tough Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) contest to the College of Saint Benedict Friday, the St. Catherine University hockey team needed to find a way to come up with a win in game two of the series to stay near the top of MIAC standings heading into a long break from conference play.
 
They were able to do just that as Kasey Evans (Burnsville, Minn.) and Becky Clifton (Imperial, Mo.) connected twice to lift the Wildcats to a 4-2 victory over the Blazers, Saturday afternoon in St. Cloud, Minn.
 
“This was a character builder for us,” said Head Coach Brad Marshall. “It was great to see the Clifton, Evans and Megan Killmer (Savage, Minn.) line play well together.”
 
And play well they did. The trio combined for 10 of the 22 Wildcat shots on the day and each finished with a plus-2 rating in the win.
 
Before Evans and Clifton got to work, Bailey Rasmussen (Grand Rapids, Minn.) scored her second power-play goal of the season off a pass from Annie Buttermore (Mahtomedi, Minn.) to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead less than five minutes into the game.
 
The Blazers respond with a quick goal, just one minute later from Ashley Olson. But the Wildcats responded at the 15:41 mark in the first with Evans' first goal of the game on a setup from Clifton.
 
Allyson Nielsen scored her third goal of the series with less than two minutes to play to tie the game 2-2 heading into the locker room.
 
The score remained tied through the second period until Clifton again set up Evans with just over five minutes to play in the period, giving the Wildcats a 3-2 lead heading into the third.
 
Michelle McDonald (International Falls, Minn.) would score her first collegiate goal in the third off a pass from Hallie Paschke (New Prague, Minn.) to secure the win for the Wildcats.
 
Junior goaltender Alex Hall (Burnsville, Minn) improves to 4-0 on the season thanks to her impressive 27 save performance against the Blazers.
 
“To come out and win the third period like we did, shows a lot about our team,” said Marshall.
 
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 5-1 in MIAC play and are in second in the standings with 10 points. The Wildcats return to non-conference play Tuesday, Dec. 4, as they host UW-Superior at Ridder Arena. Puck drop is scheduled for 7 p.m.
 
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