ST. PAUL, Minn. -- The St. Catherine University hockey team opened the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) season falling to the Augsburg University Auggies on Friday evening at Drake Arena. The Auggies defeated the Wildcats 7-1 in game one of the conference series putting St. Kate's at 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the MIAC. 

Augsburg scored four goals within the first six minutes of play as St. Kate's was off to a slow start. The Wildcats held them off through the rest of the period while senior Abby Pirkl scored a power play goal with 45 seconds remaining in the period assisted by Lilly Gillespie and Raechel Painovich. 

The Auggies added two more in the second period before the Wildcats made a goaltender change putting in sophomore Anna Friendshuh to replace senior Abby Severson. The third period included one final goal from Augsburg as Friendshuh made seven saves. 

St. Kate's will travel to Minneapolis on Saturday for game two of the series with Augsburg with a 4 pm scheduled start.