ST. PAUL, MINN. – After an impressive 4-1 road win over the University of Wisconsin-Superior Friday evening, the St. Catherine University hockey team returned home looking for its first nonconference sweep in four seasons. Unfortunately, the Wildcats were unable to recapture their offensive prowess from the night before, falling to the visiting Yellow Jackets 4-2 in regulation time.

St. Kate's was again outshot by UW-Superior in regulation play, this time by a much smaller margin. The Yellow Jackets sent 40 shots at senior goalie Abbi White (Wyoming, Minn. / Forest Lake), who managed to make 37 saves. However, White did give up a first period goal to UW-Superior, giving the visitors a 1-0 lead 13 minutes into the period. With the game deadlocked 0-0 and both teams at full strength, the Yellow Jackets Jessica Marsalla sent a pass behind the net in St. Kate's zone, where Mandy Thompson was there to make a behind-the-back pass to Paige Dale to score the first goal of the game.

Minus the one goal for UW-Superior, the first period may have been the most uneventful of the game. The Wildcats tried in the remaining minutes to even the score with a goal of their own, but Yellow Jacket goalie Kim Kobar was there to stop every shot. When play opened in the second period, though, both teams were hungry for a goal, and it showed in their aggressive style of play. Sadly, it was once again the visitors who managed to find the back of the net, as UW-Superior took a 2-0 lead with a second period goal at 6:03.

However, St. Kate's benefited from the barrage of penalties that were called in the second period. After a 20 minute first period were zero penalties were called, the Wildcats were called for four penalties while the Yellow Jackets were put into the box five times in the second. That benefited St. Kate's, as the team scored its first goal of the game on a power play. Morgan Tentis (Victoria, Minn. / Chanhassen) took a Tori Thompson (Rochester, Minn. / Mayo) rebound and buried it in the back of the end, scoring her first goal of the season and cutting UW-Superior's lead to 2-1.

The Wildcats were unable to capitalize on their other power play opportunities, but Tentis' power play goal put them within striking distance of the Yellow Jackets lead. When the third period started, St. Kate's tried to be aggressive on offense, but a costly turnover allowed UW-Superior to extend its lead to 3-1 five minutes into the period.

Still, the Wildcats battled back with yet another power play goal by Tentis, again from Thompson and sophomore defender MacKenzie Ess (Burnsville, Minn. / Apple Valley), and once again found themselves down by just one goal with 10 minutes remaining in the game. Almost one minute later, St. Kate's was awarded its best scoring chance of the afternoon. Yellow Jacket Kelly Cockerill was given a double minor for interference and hitting after the whistle, giving the Wildcats a five on four advantage for four minutes of play. Unfortunately, St. Kate's was unable to capitalize on the opportunity and was still down 3-2 with under five minutes to play.

With under a minute remaining in regulation, head coach Brad Marshall pulled White for an extra skater on the ice. After failing to get a shot on goal against Kobar, the Wildcats looked to regroup and generate one final offensive play with ten seconds left. Unfortunately, Mikayla Gooden stripped the puck away from St. Kate's and scored the empty net goal to ensure UW-Superiors 4-2 victory.

With the loss, the Wildcats record falls to 2-2-0 overall. St. Kate's will return to the ice next weekend when it opens its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) schedule against the Augsburg College Auggies. Game one will take place Friday at Augsburg at 7:30 p.m. and the Wildcats will return home Saturday for a 5 p.m. puck drop.