The St. Catherine University hockey team had been searching for its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win of the season and knew it had a great opportunity against a Bethel University squad that came into the two-game series with just one victory in the early season. Despite playing close with the Royals all night, the Wildcats couldn't come up with an answer in the third period as they suffered a 3-1 loss Thursday evening at Drake Arena.
The Wildcats played close with the Royals being outshot just 31-26 in the game with several key scoring opportunities that couldn't convert. Additionally, the Wildcats had three power play chances and tallied five shots on goal before coming up empty.
The game started off with even paly back-and-forth through the first eight minutes of the game. Immediately following the end of a St. Kate's penalty, Bethel managed to capatalize on a chance seconds later when Lauren Kolak came out of the left corner on a set up from Erika Geary to beat Wildcat goalie
Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis./Chequamegon) at the 11:12 mark. The Royals then poured on the offense adn outshot the Wildcats 12-6 in the opening 20 minutes.
However, the Wildcats came out ready to play in the second period and didn't waste any time in finding an equalizer.
Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn./simley) worked her way into the slot and buried a shot past Bethel goalie Maggie Straka on assists from
Zoe Verkerke (Menominee, Mich./Menominee) and
Alex Pederson (Park Rapids, Minn./Park Rapids) just 27 seconds in to tie the game at 1-1.
The Wildcats appeared to be in control of the second period – they outshot the Royals 14-10 – but they couldn't stop Kolak who recorded her second goal of the game at the 13:30 mark on another set up from Geary to give the Royals back the lead.
In the third, the Royals outshot the Wildcats 9-6 and added to their lead at 13:12 when Wendy Roberts took advantage of a Wildcat mistake in the neutral zone and put in a shot that trickled past Pechacek to extend the lead to 3-1.
Pechacek finished the night with 28 saves in goal for the Wildcats. With her goal, Muller now owns the team lead in points (3) and goals (2).
Mallory Ryan (Cottage Grove, Minn./Park) led the team offensively with seven shots on goal, while Muller had five and
Randi Fabsits (Tinley Park, Ill./Victor J. Andrew) had three.
With the loss, the Wildcats fall to 0-6-2 on the season and 0-5-0 in the MIAC. They will face bethel in a rematch Friday night at 7 p.m. at the Schwans' Super Rink in Blaine, Minnesota.
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