ST. PAUL, MINN. – The St. Catherine University hockey team has a hankering for being clutch when it matters most. With the season and a trip to the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) playoffs on the line, the Wildcats gave it all they had in their second game of the weekend against Augsburg University. Sadly, St. Kate's late flurry came up short, as the team fell to the Auggies by a final score of 3-1.

The Wildcats defense managed to hold the hot Augsburg offense at bay early in the first period, as most of the play took place between the blue lines. Unfortunately, the Auggies wasted no time taking advantage of their first power play opportunity. At 7:16 in the first period, St. Kate's forward Morgan Tentis (Victoria, Minn. / Chanhassen) was sent to the penalty box for roughing, giving Augsburg the five-on-four advantage early in the game. The Auggies did not waste their opportunity, as they scored just 50 seconds into the power play to take the 1-0 lead over the Wildcats.

St. Kate's held Augsburg to just the one first period goal, meaning the team was only down 1-0 after the first 20 minutes of play. However, that changed in the second period, as the Auggies scored two goals in the first six minutes on first year goalie Bryce Boreen (Cottage Grove, Minn. / Park-Cottage Grove), prompting head coach Brad Marshall to make a change in the net. Down 3-0 26 minutes into the game, the wily veteran coach opted to replace Boreen with senior goalie Kristen Pechacek (Park Falls, Wis. / Chequamegon), who kept Augsburg off the board in the remaining 34 minutes of play.

With Pechacek holding the Auggies at bay, the Wildcat offense had ample opportunity to try and even the score. However, St. Kate's spent 10 of the remaining 34 minutes down a skater after being called for five penalties in the second and third periods alone. Still, the Wildcats had some good looks at the net, as Laken and Lexi Muller (Inver Grove Heights, Minn. / Simley), Emilee Anderson (Chanhassen, Minn. / Chanhassen) and Victoria Gruett (Woodbury, Minn. / Revolution) each generated a breakaway in the latter stages of the game.

While St. Kate's had opportunities to score, Augsburg goalie Rebecca Sonnek made sure the home team did not, in fact, score. The Auggie goalie made 18 saves in 59 minutes of play before letting the first Wildcat shot break the goal line. Sara Brakke (Rochester, Minn. / Mayo) struck gold for St. Kate's with a one timer, cutting Augsburg's lead to 3-1 with 48 seconds remaining in regulation.

Despite their best attempts, the Wildcats could not score two goals in the final seconds, as Pechacek actually made two saves with less than 15 seconds to play, resulting in the 3-1 loss. The senior goalie was flawless in net in the final 34 minutes of play, saving all 21 shots she faced.

With the loss, St. Kate's overall record falls to 6-16-1 and the team is 5-10-1 in MIAC play. The Wildcats will play in their final series of the regular season next weekend when they host Bethel University at 7 p.m. on Friday, January 16.