ST. PETER, MINN. – It's no secret that, in the past three season, the St. Catherine University soccer team has developed quite the rivalry with the Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties. The Wildcats and Gusties met twice last season, including in the quarterfinal round of the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Women's Soccer Playoffs last year, where St. Kate's won in a shootout. On Saturday, the Wildcats had no such luck in St. Peter, Minnesota, as Gustavus avenged its playoff loss with a 3-0 win over the Wildcats.

Despite the final score, St. Kate's battled the Gusties throughout the first half, holding their high powered offense to no goals through the first 25 minutes of play. In that time, both teams had plenty of chances to score the opening goal of the game. The Wildcats were awarded back-to-back corner kicks in the 10^th minute but were unable to convert on either opportunity.

The Gusties also had plenty of opportunities to score in the opening minutes of the game, but Tayler Koop (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) was dynamite in goal for St. Kate's. The sophomore goalkeeper made four saves in the opening 20 minutes of the game to preserve the 0-0 tie. Unfortunately, Gustavus eventually did manage to break through the Wildcats defense, as Sophie Leininger scored at 28:19 to give the Gusties a 1-0 lead.

St. Kate's tried to even the score in the ensuing minutes, but Gustavus managed to tack on two more goals before the half ended. Josie Mazzone scored for the Gusties in the 38^th minute to extend the lead to 2-0 before an own goal by the Wildcats gave Gustavus a 3-0 lead with under two minutes remaining in the half.

After a tough opening 45 minutes, St. Kate's looked to rebound in the second half but was, unfortunately, unable to score on the Gusties' Ashley Becker. Kaitlin Machovec (Woodbury, Minn. / North St. Paul) did get a shot off in the opening five minutes of the second half, but her shot was blocked by a Gustavus defender. Allie Bird (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) missed a shot wide left a few moments after Machovec's shot was blocked before the Gusties managed to regain possession.

Jessica Perez-Adame (San Jacinto, Calif. / San Jacinto) kept Gustavus from scoring in the second half, giving her team a chance to score a few goals in the final 30 minutes of play. However, the Wildcats were unable to get past the Gusties strong defense, and most of the second half was played in the neutral zone. It did look like Machovec was going to score St. Kate's first goal of the game, but Becker made the save to keep the Wildcats off the board.

As the minutes wound down, the Wildcats continued to penetrate Gustavus' zone but were unable to get many shots off against the Gustie defense. Perez-Adame, meanwhile, turned back every shot she faced in the second half and did not allow a single Gustavus student-athlete to score in the final 45 minutes.

Machovec led the team in shots with two total and one on goal, while Perez-Adame faced four shots and made four saves. Koop suffered just her second MIAC loss of the season.

With the loss, St. Kate's record falls to 6-6-2 and the team has a 4-3-2 mark in MIAC play. The Wildcats will return to the pitch on Wednesday, when they travel to Northfield, Minnesota to take on St. Olaf College. Kickoff is scheduled for 3:30 p.m.