EAU CLAIRE, WIS. – While many people were enjoying a relaxing New Year's Eve Day, the St. Catherine University hockey team had one last thing to do before 2016 ended. The Wildcats were trying to ring in the New Year in the best way possible, with a road win over the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire. Sadly, St. Kate's could not come away with the victory, as the Wildcats fell to the Blue Golds 3-1 Saturday afternoon.

"We had spurts were we played well today," head coach Brad Marshall said after the game. "Unfortunately, we didn't have everyone contribute, and the spurts were too far and in between to come up with the victory."

The Wildcats and Blue Golds fought for the lead in the opening period of play as both teams generated several offensive opportunities. St. Kate's senior goalie Abbi White (Wyoming, Minn. / Forest Lake) saw plenty of action early in the period with seven saves in the first eight minutes of play. Unfortunately, UW-Eau Claire eventually managed to break through the Wildcats strong defensive front, as Blue Gold forward Courtney Wittig scored the first goal of the game at 8:18.

Although the team was down 1-0 early, St. Kate's rallied with strong offensive play over the next 11 minutes and 42 seconds of the period. Eventually, with four minutes to go in the period, the Wildcats offensive persistence payed off as Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) scored her team leading fifth goal of the season, evening the score at 1-1.

With five minutes left in the second period, UW-Eau Claire struck again to take a 2-1 lead over St. Kate's. After a Blue Gold defenseman took a shot from the blue line, a scrum broke out in front of White, with six different players from both teams trying to make a play on the puck. UW-Eau Claire's Sydney Schneider eventually managed to poke the puck away from White into the back of the net to give the home team a 2-1 lead.

St. Kate's ended the second period down 2-1 after Schneider's goal. However, the Wildcats opened the third period on the power play thanks to a late Blue Gold Penalty at 18:35.  Still, St. Kate's was unable to break through UW-Eau Claire's defense, and the Wildcats were still down 2-1 at the end of the power play opportunity.

The Blue Golds, unfortunately, weren't done scoring after two goals in the first two period. At 2:14 in the third, UW-Eau Claire extended its lead to 3-1 after Lauren Norgren hit a slap shot from the blue line that got past White. Still, the Wildcats tried to battle back, generating several offensive opportunities to try and get back within one of the Blue Golds lead. Unfortunately, UW-Eau Claire's defense was there to make every stop and every save that came off St. Kate's sticks. Even pulling White with under two minutes remaining in the game didn't give the Wildcats the extra fire power they needed to get the puck past Connolly as they fell by a final score of 3-1.

With the loss, St. Kate's record falls to 5-7-0 and the team still holds a 2-4-0 mark in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play. The Wildcats will have next weekend off before returning to the ice on January 10. St. Kate's will travel to Ashland, Wisconsin to take on Northland College at 7 p.m. that Tuesday.