Box Score
After rolling to a 5-0 win over Finlandia University Friday evening, the St. Catherine University hockey team narrowly escaped a non-conference setback thanks to a second period goal by Annie Buttermore (Mahtomedi, Minn.) to lift the Wildcats to a 4-3 win over the Lions, Saturday afternoon at Drake Arena.
 
The Wildcats appeared to be off to a quick start when Bailey Rasmussen (Grand Rapids, Minn.) buried her fifth goal of the season off a pass from Zoe Verkerke (Menominee, Mich.), but the Lions came back five minutes later to even the game at 1-1.
 
The Wildcats would capitalize on two back-to-back power play opportunities just over a minute apart to jump out to 3-1 lead with less than four minutes to play.
 
The power play surge began off the stick of Randi Fabsits (Tinley Park, Ill.) who scored her second goal of the season on a pass from Rachel Gasperetti (Milwaukee, Wis.) at 14:32, before Mallory Ryan (Cottage Grove, Minn.) scored her first collegiate goal at 15:39.
 
The Lions weren't ready to give up though, as Kelly Poelstra beat Wildcat goalie Brittany Fussy (Ham Lake, Minn.) with just five seconds to play in an action-packed first period to pull the Lions within one.
 
Buttermore scored her second goal in as many games to help the Wildcats pull out to a 4-2 lead at 13:52 in the second period.
 
The Lions looked as if they might stage a late-game comeback as Sierra Rusinek scored at the 7:52 mark in the third, but that was as close as the Lions would come.
 
Fussy stopped 13 shots to earn her first collegiate win, while Ryan led the Wildcats on the day with a goal and an assist. Becky Clifton (Imperial, Mo.) and Megan Killmer (Savage, Minn.) continued to shine for the Wildcats as they each picked up an assist.
 
With the win, the Wildcats improve to 7-3 on the season and head into the holiday break in second place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) with 12 points. The Wildcats' 5-1 MIAC start is the team's best since 2009-10 when the team finished second in the conference and made it to the MIAC Championship game.
 
The Wildcats will have a few weeks of rest before returning to action against the College of St. Scholastica for a non-conference contest, Saturday, Jan. 5, 2013. Puck drop is scheduled for 2 p.m., at Drake Arena.
 
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