NORTHFIELD, Minn. — The St. Catherine University hockey team dropped a battle on the road to the St. Olaf College Oles, 2-1. The MIAC loss puts the Wildcats at 3-2-0 against conference opponents with a 6-3-0 overall record.

St. Olaf opened the scoring at 18:37 of the first period. The Oles doubled the advantage in a similar fashion late in the second, this time at 18:46.

Despite long defensive stretches, St. Catherine's penalty-kill kept the Wildcats within reach, turning aside all five Ole power plays. Goaltender Lea Grassia was outstanding between the pipes, stopping 29 shots and keeping the Wildcats alive heading into the third.

On a power play at 18:21 of the third,  junior Lilly Gillespie parked at the back post and swept home a shot set up by Ana Myers and Raechel Painovich, cutting the deficit to 2–1. The Wildcats pulled Grassia for the extra skater with 47 seconds left and generated a pair of last-chance looks, but St. Olaf held strong as the final seconds ran out.

Myers led St. Catherine in shots with three, while Gillespie recorded a game-high fifth goal of the season. The Wildcats finished 1-for-3 on the power play and totaled 16 shots on goal.

St. Kate's will host the Oles for game two of the MIAC series at Drake Arena on Friday, December 5, at 7 pm.