ST. PAUL, MINN. – After a hard fought game Friday evening, the St. Catherine University hockey team returned home feeling confident that it could earn its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win. Unfortunately for St. Kate's, a win against the Augsburg College Auggies wasn't in the cards. Despite outstanding play from goalie Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) and the team's defense, the Wildcats were unable to leave Drake Arena, falling to the Auggies 2-1.

Unfortunately, St. Kate's did get off to a slow start as Augsburg controlled the puck for the majority of the first period. The Auggies sent the puck Pechacek's way 14 times in the first time, and the junior goalie saved 13 of them. The one puck Pechacek missed was a power play goal by Augsburg's Taral Clayton at 13:10 in the first period.

Down 1-0 after the first period, the Wildcats offense started to come alive in the second. Tori Gruett (St. Paul, Minn. / MTS Minnesota Connections) had a chance to even the score five minutes into the second period and had beaten Auggie goalie Rebecca Sonnek on her glove side. Unfortunately, Gruett's shot ricocheted off the pipe back in front Sonnek to keep the score in Augsburg's favor.

Just like in the first period, a penalty proved costly for St. Kate's. With under four minutes remaining in the period, Lexi Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) took a penalty for hooking just the Wildcats were about to kill Alex Pederson's (Park Rapids, Minn. / Park Rapids) penalty for interference. St. Kate's managed to burn Pederson's penalty, but a controversial play in front of the goal gave Augsburg a 2-0 lead on its second power play goal of the evening.

When the second period ended, the Wildcats knew they had to score early in order to beat the Auggies and earn their first MIAC game of the season. That is exactly what the team did. Allie Guzy (Blaine, Minn. / Spring Lake Park) kicked a puck out of a scrum deep in the Wildcats zone, which Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn. / Thief River Falls) swiftly picked up on the boards. An Augsburg player was there to try and strip Solheim, but the senior captain bounced the puck off the boards, lost her defender, and skated down the ice towards Sonnek. In what appeared to be a one-on-one situation, Solheim drew the attention of both the Auggies only defender and Sonnek. Just when it looked like she was going to take the shot, Solheim passed the puck to Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley), who did not miss the wide open shot from the back door.

After Laken Muller's first goal of the season, the Augsburg lead was suddenly cut to 2-1. The Wildcat offense continued to try and push the puck deep in to the Auggies zone but were unable to capitalize on key offensive opportunities. However, St. Kate's looked to make one last push to tie the game when Augsburg's Mackenzie Molnar was called for elbowing with 2:45 remaining in the period. Once the Wildcats gained possession of the puck on the face, head coach Brad Marshall pulled Pechacek to give St. Kate's a 6 on 4 advantage. Unfortunately, the advantage didn't last very long, as Morgan Tentis (Victoria, Minn. / Chanhassen) was called for goalie interference just seconds later.

Pechacek made 33 saves and allowed two goals in the loss, while Sonnek made 14 saves and allowed one goal in 60 minutes of play.

With the loss, the Wildcats overall record falls to 2-4-0 and the team is 0-2-0 in MIAC play. St. Kate's will return to the ice next Saturday, when it hosts Concordia College in the first of a two-game series.