MINNEAPOLIS, MINN. – With just four games remaining in the 2016 season, every game is a "big one" for the St. Catherine University soccer team. However, of the remaining four games, none may have been as high profile as Thursday night's game against Augsburg College. The Wildcats and Auggies, both regionally ranked, were looking for a win to move up the conference standings. Unfortunately, St. Kate's was unable to come up with the win, as the Wildcats fell to Augsburg 3-1 in regulation play.

The upset minded St. Kate's entered the game hungry for a win after suffering a 1-0 loss to the University of St. Thomas last Saturday. Unfortunately, the Wildcats found their backs against the wall after the first 10 minutes of play. The Auggies Ciara Gregory bounced a ball off her chest and past a diving Shelby Fehringer (Andover, Minn. / Andover) to give Augsburg a 1-0 lead at 5:10 in the first half.

Less than four minutes later, the Auggies struck again. This time, it was Emily Gregg heading the ball past St. Kate's defense to give Augsburg a 2-0 lead. However, the two goal deficit seemed to kick the Wildcat defense and offense into a new gear. Fehringer and her defense continued to make outstanding plays to give their offense plenty of chances to at least cut the deficit in half.

St. Kate's offense started to generate some plays after Gregg's second goal but were unable to break through Marissa Guillou. The Wildcats persistence payed off, though, in the 25^th minute. After just pushing her first two shots wide, Hannah Okerstrom (Bayport, Minn. / Stillwater) took the ball at the top of the penalty box, turned and burned Guillou with a laser to score St. Kate's first goal of the game and cut the Auggie lead to 2-1.

After Okerstrom's goal, the momentum seemed to swing in the Wildcats direction. The team continued to press Augsburg offense and make tremendous plays on defense as Shannon Hickey (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Visitation), Allie Boucher (Stillwater, Minn. / Stillwater) and Nicole Doran (Farmington, Minn. / Farmington) made several huge blocks to keep the Auggies off the scoreboard. Unfortunately, St. Kate's defense had no answer for MIAC goal leader Ashley St. Aubin, as she scored her 13^th goal of the year at 30:01 to give Augsburg a 3-1 lead it would never relinquish.

"Augsburg played very well and caught us early," soccer head coach Chris Citowicki commented after the game. "We responded well but missed some very clear cut opportunities."

Those opportunities came in both the first and second half. Iryna Talkachova (Shoreview, Minn. / Shattuck-St. Mary's) had a chance to cut the lead to 3-2 with a blast from the right side, but her shot bounced off the corner of the post and out of bounds. Then, in the second half, Okerstrom had another opportunity after Guillou's rebound of Molly Hayes (South St. Paul, Minn. / South St. Paul) bounced out in front of her. With the net open, Okerstrom just missed high, sending the ball over the cross bar behind the net.

St. Kate's tried to generate one last offensive play late in the 86^th minute. Okerstrom jumped on a pass from Monica Mischke (Lino Lakes, Minn. / Centennial) and Julia Zyla (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Trinity) but Guillou was there to make the save, sealing Augsburg 3-1 victory.

Although disappointed, the Wildcats and Citowicki were able to take something away from the loss, which dropped St. Kate's record to 9-4-1 and 4-3-1 in MIAC play.

"We learned some valuable lessons today and can't wait to get back on the field Saturday for what should be a huge game."

With her goal in the first half, Okerstrom tallied her 27 and 28^th points of the year, tying the school record she set last season for points in a single season (28). Okerstrom will have a chance to break her record on Saturday in front of a home crowd when the Wildcats take on Gustavus Adolphus College at 1 p.m. at St. Kate's field.