ST. PAUL, Minn. - The St. Catherine University hockey suffered its first loss of the 2019-20 season, falling to No. 9 Gustavus Adolphus College Gusties, 5-0, on Friday evening at Drake Arena.

In the first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) game of the season, the Wildcats and Gusties were toe to toe with each other in the first 20 minutes of play. Gustavus got the board first on Friday with a power-play goal with 5:03 remaining in the period.  Head coach Brad Marshall said, " I thought our speed and puck movement was good the first 20 minutes. If we go in being down 1-0 after the 1st....okay" The Gusties found the back of the net again with 1:03 left to take the 2-0 lead going into the first intermission.

Gustavus came out strong after the break with their third goal less than 2 minutes into the second period. They tallied their second power-play three minutes later to take the 4-0 lead with 14 minutes left in the period.  

St. Catherine was on the power-play at 12:03 in the second period but was unable to finish on the opportunity. The Wildcats were able to hold the Gusties off though until they scored their final goal of the game with 3:41 left in the third period."It was a fast game, not a lot of time and space tonight", said Marshall. "We need to make the most of our opportunities and not give them goals, which leads to use chasing for 40 minutes."

Junior goalie Bryce Boreen made 24 saves on Friday against Gustavus playing the complete game. St. Catherine was led by rookie Kaitlyn Blair with three shots on net followed by rookie Laura Denchfield, sophomore Sophia Gorski, and junior Hunter Gallus with two shots apiece. 

Game two of the series with Gustavus will be played on Saturday at 2 pm in St. Peter at Don Roberts Arena.