ST. PAUL, MINN. – At a certain points in a season, there comes a time for a team to make a statement win. The St. Catherine University soccer team had reached that point and did just that in Saturday afternoon's Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) game against the Saint Mary's University Cardinals. The Wildcats dominated in all facets of the game, beating the Cardinals 3-1 on two goals in the second half.

St. Kate's generated several opportunities early in the game, seemingly scoring its first goal two minutes into the game. Allie Bird (Maple Grove, Minn. / Maple Grove) found Julia Rupp (North Branch, Minn. / North Branch) on the far side of the net, and Rupp buried the ball in the net to give the Wildcats a 1-0 lead. However, St. Kate's goal was called off due to an off sides violation.

Roughly ten minutes later, one of the two teams did manage to score, but it unfortunately wasn't the Wildcats. Saint Mary's Maddy Wallraff scored off a Tayler Koop (Blaine, Minn. / Blaine) rebound to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

St. Kate's, though, continued to push the ball into Saint Mary's zone, creating scoring opportunity after scoring opportunity. The team's persistence eventually paid off in the 32^nd minute, when the Wildcats were granted a corner kick opportunity. On the play, Shannon Hickey (Eden Prairie, Minn. / Visitation) headed Iryna Talkachova's (Minsk, Belarus / Shattuck-St. Mary's) ball into the back of the net, evening the score at 1-1 and becoming the team's leading scorer with three goals.

St. Kate's continued to generate offensive chances late in the first half, but Cardinal goalkeeper Zoe Boleneus made every save after the initial goal. However, the Wildcats took advantage of the first year keeper's mistakes early and often in the second half. St. Kate's took a definitive 2-1 lead after capitalizing on another corner kick opportunity. This time, it was Bird who created the scoring chance, as her ball was deflected into the net by a Saint Mary's defender, resulting in an own goal and a 2-1 Wildcat lead.

At 56:24, Bird capitalized on another mistake by the Cardinal goalkeeper. The sophomore forward streaked up the far side of the field, drawing Boleneus away from the net. Bird then duked the goalkeeper and deflected the ball off a Saint Mary's defender into a wide open net to solidify St. Kate's 3-1 victory.

Bird led the team with five shot, four on goal, and one goal, while Hickey was 1-1 with a 1.000 shot on goal percentage.

Jessica Perez-Adame (San Jacinto, Calif. / San Jacinto) earned her first win of the season, coming in to relieve Koop in the second half. The senior goalkeeper did not face a single shot on goal in the final 45 minutes of play, while Koop made two save in the first.

With the win, the Wildcats overall record improved to 2-4-2, and they are now 2-1-2 in MIAC play. St. Kate's will return to the field on Monday when it travels to Iowa to take on Waldorf College. The Wildcats will also play Concordia College on Saturday at 1 p.m. in Moorhead, Minnesota.