The St. Catherine University hockey team opened the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season with a strong three-point performance, but hoped to follow that up with two wins against an Augsburg College squad that stole three points from then nationally-ranked No. 10 Bethel University. Unfortunately, the Wildcats couldn't captitalize on several opportunites and gave up a late-game goal in a 3-2 loss to the Auggies Friday evening at Ed Saugestad Arena in Minneapolis. 

"It's hard to pass the blame to anyone but ourselves," said Head Coach Brad Marshall. "The team that makes the most mistakes usually comes up short in the end. That was us tonight. A few mistakes and it's in our net. This is a disciplined team. We play hard and we play fair, but what we need to do is score more than two goals in a game." 

After Samantha Geissler (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) kept the Wildcats in the game after stopping 13 shots in the first period, the Wildcats' lack of discipline showed early in the second period when a defensive mistake at the blue line allowed Callan Naasz beat Geissler on a shorthanded breakaway opportunity to give the Auggies a 1-0 lead 2:26 in. 

However, the Wildcats responded in a memorable way just over four minutes later when on a delayed penalty call Zoe Verkerke (Menominee, Mich./Menominee) snuck a loose puck past Auggie goalie Erika Allen after hard work from Cassie Thomas (Northfield, Minn./Northfield). 

Following the goal, the Wildcats then got their power play going when first-year Alex Pederson (Park Rapids, Minn./Park Rapids) continued to show she had a scoring touch early in the season when she beat Allen on a rebound off a shot from Karly Nelson (East Grand Forks, Minn./East Grand Forks) to give the Wildcats a 2-1 lead with 11 minutes remaining in the second period. 

The Auggies would pull even again at 14:10 on a goal from Sarah Buckner making it 2-2 heading into the third period. Despite outshooting the Auggies 13-8 in the third period, Naasz would again be the hero for the Auggies when she scored at 14:12 to give her team a 3-2 lead. The Wildcats couldn't find a way to respond in suffering their first MIAC loss of the season. 

Geissler finished the day with 27 saves, while Annie Buttermore (Mahtomedi, Minn./Mahtomedi) and Maddy Zastrow (Greendale, Wis./Greendale) each picked up assists. Pederson and Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn./Thief River Falls) led the offensive attack with five shots on goal a piece. Buttermore and Sarah Braake (Rochester, Minn./Mayo) each had four. 

The Wildcats will look to avenge their loss against the Auggies Saturday on home ice. Puck drop is slated for 2 p.m. at Drake Arena in St. Paul. 

Wildcat Hockey on Twitter
Wildcat Hockey on Facebook
Wildcats on Twitter
Wildcats on Facebook