ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University hockey team could not have asked for more momentum coming into Sunday afternoon's game against the Concordia College Cobbers. Saturday evening, the Wildcats were on fire offensively and defensively, scoring six goals while holding the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference's (MIAC) highest scoring offense to just two goals on 37 shots. Unfortunately, St. Kate's was unable to find the same firepower Sunday afternoon as Concordia took game two in St. Paul, Minnesota by a score of 2-1.

The Wildcats were looking for their first MIAC-series sweep of the season after their best offensive game of the year on Saturday. Despite falling in a 1-0 hole early in the game, St. Kate's scored four consecutive goals and scored six overall to take game one by a score of 6-2. Four different Wildcats scored in the effort, which was why head coach Brad Marshall and his team felt confident entering Sunday afternoon's game.

Sunday played out similarly to Saturday in the opening minutes of play. St. Kate's MacKenzie Ess (Burnsville, Minn. / Apple Valley) took an early penalty for interference and Concordia scored on the power play despite the outstanding play of goalie Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon). Pechacek made seven consecutive saves on the penalty kill before Cobber forward Abbie Canton snuck the puck past her on the glove side.

Still, the Wildcats felt confident they could make up the deficit, as the team also found themselves down 1-0 in the opening minutes of Saturday night's game. Still, as the first period wore on, St. Kate's struggled to get the puck out of its defensive zone, and Concordia continued to pound on the shots. After giving up the initial goal, Pechacek turned every shot away and made several miraculous saves to keep the Wildcats in a one goal hole.

The 1-0 score held through the remainder of the first period and until under three minutes remained in the second. Unfortunately, it was the Cobbers that scored rather than St. Kate's. After the Wildcats were unsuccessful on the power play opportunity, Concordia gained a 2-on-1 advantage and had its best scoring look of the season. Pechacek made the first save on Amber Schaak's shot but was unable to save Ellen Rethwisch's rebound shot, meaning the Cobbers took a 2-0 lead with one period left to play.

Down 2-0 in the third period, St. Kate's generated multiple scoring plays and started to put pressure on Concordia netminder Andrea Klug. Finally, the Wildcats broke through on a power play at 14:22 in the period. Lexi Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) received a pass from Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) and hit a one timer from the blue line to cut the Cobber's lead to 2-1 with approximately five minutes remaining in the game.

After that, St. Kate's continued to gain traction on the offensive end and eventually pulled Pechacek for an extra skater on the ice. Still, the Wildcats were unable to capitalize on their offensive opportunities, and with 10 seconds remaining, the score was still stuck at 2-1. After several seconds of neutral play at center ice, defender Tori Thompson (Rochester, Minn. / Mayo) eventually gained control of the puck and sent a blazing slap shot towards the net. As the horn blared, Thompson's shot sailed just wide of the right post, meaning Concordia won the game by a score of 2-1.

With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 3-5-0 on the season and the team now holds a 1-3-0 mark in MIAC play. Concordia improves to 4-1-1 on the season and 3-1-0 in conference play.
Due to Thanksgiving, the Wildcats will not return to the ice until December 2, when they take on defending MIAC Regular Season Champs Bethel University in a two game series. St. Kate's will take on the Royals on the road at 7 p.m. on Friday before returning home to host the Royals at 4 p.m. on Saturday.