ASHLAND, WIS. – After ten days of recuperation, the Wildcats returned to the ice Tuesday night in a nonconference road game against the Northland College Lumberjills. While it wasn't the team's prettiest game of the season, St. Kate's left Ashland, Wisconsin with a 5-4 victory over the Lumberjills, despite a long, snowy bus ride and an early scoring drought.
"It took us a while to get going, but luckily we found the back of the net," hockey head coach
Brad Marshall said after the victory. "Unfortunately, our mistakes ended up in our own net, but we were still able to come away with the win.
Despite the indication from the final score, neither team was able to score in the opening period of play. St. Kate's offense peppered Lumberjill goalie Chloe Marshall with 14 shots, but Marshall made 14 saves. On the defensive side of the ice,
Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) was just as impressive, saving every shot she faced in the opening 20 minutes of play.
The second period was a different story. Northland opened the flood gates but scoring the first goal of the game at even strength 1:30 into the period. Over two minutes later,
Tori Gruett (Woodbury, Minn. / B.E. Emerson) got St. Kate's on the board with an even strength goal at 3:45, tying the game at 1-1.
Twenty-five seconds later,
Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn. / Thief River Falls) gave the Wildcats the lead with her fourth goal of the season off a pass from
Alex Pederson (Park Rapids, Minn. / Park Rapids). For five minutes, St. Kate's defense held the lead with strong play while the offense continued to put pressure on Marshall with more shots. Unfortunately, the puck managed to slip past Pechacek, and it was once again a tie game with 10 minutes remaining in the period.
Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) once again gave her team the lead with a goal at 14:28, but costly mistakes on defense allowed the Lumberjills to score two consecutive goals, giving the home team a 4-3 lead with under three minutes remaining in the second period. The Wildcats knew they needed to rebound, especially after holding the lead for the majority of the second period and outshooting the home team 18-12. With exactly one second remaining in the period, the puck found its way to Muller's stick, and the sophomore forward caught Marshall sleeping in net. In "Miracle" style, Muller scored her second goal of the game and seventh of the season to tie the score at 4-4 just as the second period ended.
The third period was not nearly as eventful as the second, though both teams wasted no time trying to take the lead for good. St. Kate's again sent a barrage of shots at the Northland goal, while the defense only allowed five to reach Pechacek in the final period. Eventually, one of the Wildcats 19 third period shots found the back of the net, as Gruett scored her second goal of the game to seal the 5-4 victory for St. Kate's.
With the win, the Wildcats overall record improves to 6-7-0 and the team still holds a 2-4-0 mark in Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play. St. Kate's will return to the ice, and MIAC play, this weekend with a huge two game series against Gustavus Adolphus College. They Wildcats will travel to St. Peter, Minnesota to take on the Gusties at 7 p.m. on Friday before returning to Drake Arena to host the same team on Saturday at 2 p.m.
