Northfield, Minn. – The St. Catherine University hockey team had momentum on its side entering Friday night's game against St. Olaf College. The Wildcats were coming off their biggest win of the season last weekend against a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) team and looked in control after scoring three goals in the second period. Unfortunately, St. Olaf scored four unanswered goals and St. Kate's dropped a heartbreaker in Northfield 4-3.
 
Neither team managed to crack the other's respective goalie in the opening period, resulting in a 0-0 tie after the opening 20 minutes of play. That didn't stop the Wildcats, though, from pressuring Ole goalie Cassie Alexander at the start of the second. St. Kate's pestered Alexander from the start of the second until finally Laken Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley) finally broke through the goalie's tough exterior. Less than two minutes into the period, Muller scored her team-leading eighth goal of the season on a power play, allowing the Wildcats to take a 1-0 lead.
 
St. Kate's wasn't merely satisfied with one goal in the second, though. The Wildcats continued to pressure St. Olaf's defense and a chance to extend the lead when an Ole skater took a penalty for hooking at 8:19 in the period. At first, it didn't look like St. Kate's would be able to convert the power play, but, with five seconds remaining, Allie Guzy (Blaine, Minn. / Spring Lake Park) found the back of the net, extending the Wildcats lead to 2-0 in the second period.
 
A minute later, Jordan Solheim (Thief River Falls, Minn. / Thief River Falls) wasted no time extending the lead to 3-0, recording her team-leading 18^th point of the season in the process. However, Solheim's goal wasn't enough to stop St. Olaf's offense. The Oles continued to send shots towards goalie Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) and eventually managed to score at 17:12 in the period.
 
With just seconds remaining, it looked like St. Kate's was going to end the period with a 3-1 lead and a strong chance of leaving Northfield, Minnesota with two much needed points in the conference standings. However, with 51 seconds remaining, a scrum broke out in front of Pechacek, and St. Olaf managed to score its second goal of the period, cutting the Wildcats lead to 3-2. Fifteen seconds later, the Oles scored again, resulting in a 3-3 tie as the buzzer sounded.
 
When the third period resumed, St. Kate's tried to regain control of the game with an earlier goal. Unfortunately, it was St. Olaf that managed to strike next, scoring on a power play at 2:47 in the third. The Wildcats were never able to recover, despite several chances to tie or take the lead, resulting in a 4-3 loss.
 
With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 7-10-1 and the team's record in MIAC play also falls to 3-7-1. The Wildcats and Oles will return for the second game of the series tomorrow, which will take place at Drake Arena at 5 p.m.