ST. PAUL, MINN. – For two weeks, the St. Catherine University soccer team has patiently waited for its first win of the season. On Saturday, the Wildcats proved it was definitely worth the wait. After outplaying both Augsburg University and Macalester College in conference play last week, St. Kate's earned its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) win in a big way with a 2-0 win over Bethel University.

The Wildcats entered Saturday afternoon's game having neither scored a goal or a win on their home field in St. Paul, Minnesota. That all changed in the 32^nd minute of play thanks to Kaitlin Machovec (Woodbury, Minn. / North St. Paul). The junior forward's second goal of the season was a rocket shot that soared past goalkeeper Kaylee Peterson to give St. Kate's the 1-0 lead at 32:44.

After taking a 1-0 lead with less than 15 minutes remaining in the half, the Wildcats went about trying to score another goal and extend the lead. However, with eight minutes remaining, it looked like Bethel was going to score, as it pushed the ball deep into St. Kate's zone. In fact, the Royals sent two shots toward the Wildcat net in the final five minutes of play. The first was blocked by a Wildcat defender before Tayler Koop (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) made a diving save to keep Bethel off the board in the final minutes of the half.

St. Kate's wasted no time scoring its second goal of the game shortly after the second half started. Although the Royals had the opening faceoff, the Wildcats quickly forced a turnover and pushed the ball deep into Bethel's zone, earning a corner kick less than 10 minutes into the half. St. Kate's certainly didn't waste the scoring opportunity, as senior center back Shannon Hickey (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Visitation) scored her second goal of the season to put the Wildcats up 2-0. Hickey was left wide open on the ball and headed Iryna Talkachova's (Minsk, Belarus / Shattuck-St. Mary's) to the back of the net to score on the play.

Up 2-0 with over 40 minutes left to play, St. Kate's did everything it could to keep Bethel off the board. Koop played her best game of the season, making 10 saves while not allowing a single goal to earn her first win of the season. The Wildcat offense also continued to test and push the Royals defense, with Hickey nearly scoring again on another corner kick opportunity later in the game. Although the ball didn't go in, St. Kate's still walked away from the game with both its first overall and MIAC win of the season.

Thanks to the 2-0 victory, the Wildcats are now 1-4-1 overall with a 1-1-1 mark in MIAC play. St. Kate's will return to action on Wednesday, when it travels to Northfield, Minnesota to take on Carleton College at 4 p.m.