FAIRFIELD, CT – Over the years, the St. Catherine University hockey team has enjoyed quite a bit of success during its trips to the east coast. After outstanding special teams play on Friday, the Wildcats were confident they would return to Minnesota with a win under its belt against Division I's Sacred Heart University. Unfortunately, St. Kate's was unable to leave the east coast with a victory, falling to the Pioneers 4-0.

Sacred Heart opened the game with two goals in the first period, scoring on first year goalie Kelsey Miller (Rochester, Minn. / Century) at 7:22 in the first period to take a 1-0 lead over the Wildcats. Six minutes later, the Pioneers added another goal and held a 2-0 lead over St. Kate's at the end of the first period.

The Wildcats did have an opportunity to at least cut Sacred Heart's lead in half at the end of the first period. At the 18 minute mark, the Pioneers Brittani Mingioa was called for hooking, giving St. Kate's a one man advantage in the final two minutes of the period. Although the Wildcats gave up an early short-handed shot, Miller made the save, allowing her team to go on the offense. MacKenzie Ess (Burnsville, Minn. / Apple Valley) fired off two quick shots before Melissa Smith (Maplewood, Minn. / Hill-Murray) was called for interference at 19:21, ending St. Kate's power play opportunity with 40 minutes remaining on the clock.

St. Kate's successfully managed to kill Smith's penalty to start the second period, but unfortunately couldn't keep a third Pioneer shot from the back of the net. Sacred Heart extended its lead to 3-0 at 4:55 in the period, as Katie Stueve beat senior Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon) for her second goal of the game. Unfortunately, the Wildcats were unable to answer with a goal of their own and trailed 3-0 entering the third and final period.

St. Kate's comeback attempts were halted early in the third period, as the team had to burn another penalty when Brede Postier (Dodge County, Minn. / Hamline) was called for high sticking at 3:36. However, once Postier was out of the box and the penalty was killed, the Wildcats offense went on attack and drew a second Pioneer penalty at 7:41. Although St. Kate's peppered the Sacred Heart goalie with shots, the team was unable to find the back of the net with the one skater advantage.

The Wildcats continued to battle the Pioneers, but at 17:31, Sacred Heart scored its fourth goal of the game, resulting in the 4-0 final score.

St. Kate's goalies of Miller, Pechacek and Bryce Boreen (Park, Minn. / Cottage Grove-Park) faced a combined 34 shots in three periods of work and made 30 saves. The Wildcats themselves tallied 23 shots on goal, with Ess and Morgan Tentis (Victoria, Minn. / Chanhassen) leading the team with four-shots each.

With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 1-11. The Wildcats will return to the ice on January 12, when they host St. Olaf College at 7 p.m. at Drake Arena in St. Paul, Minnesota.