NORTHFIELD, Minn. – First year Iona Welsch scored the game-winning goal with 33.8 seconds remaining in the third period to give the St. Olaf College women's hockey team a 3-2 victory over St. Catherine University in its final home game of the regular season on Friday night at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

St. Olaf (9-15-0, 3-14-0 MIAC) twice held one-goal leads in each of the first two periods before St. Kate's (7-15-1, 3-12-0 MIAC) scored late goals in each period to tie the game at both intermissions. After the Wildcats scored with just over a second remaining in the second, the score remained locked at 2-2 until Welsch put in a rebound off her own shot with 33.8 seconds remaining for the first game-winning goal of her young career.

The Oles took their first of three leads on the night 7:42 into the opening period when senior Carolyn Carpenter put home a rebound off a shot by first year Mandy Moran on a 2-on-1 rush. The goal was Carpenter's third of the season, while Moran collected her third assist.

St. Olaf maintained the 1-0 lead until Joslin Mumm blasted in a shot from high on the left circle glove side for an unassisted goal at 18:52 of the opening period. The Oles held an 11-9 advantage in shots on goal in the opening 20 minutes as the teams went to the locker room tied at 1-1.

Just 1:03 into the second period, sophomore Zephryn Jager tallied her second goal of the season to give St. Olaf the lead again, shoveling home a rebound after first year Lauren Spear's effort was saved in front of the net. Welsch also earned an assist on the goal as part of her first collegiate multi-point game.

The Oles held the 2-1 lead for nearly 19 minutes before the Wildcats scored in the closing seconds of the third period to tie the game for a second time. Abby Pirkl got the second tying goal for the visitors after receiving a centering pass from Sophia Gorski on the right and directing the puck into the net with 1.3 seconds on the clock.

In a 2-2 game late on, St. Olaf killed off a minor penalty committed with 3:27 remaining before going in search of the winning goal, which eventually came from Welsch. Jager and first year Sophie McBane did the hard work on the boards behind the goal to get the puck free to Welsch in front for the game-winner.

Senior Ivy Shonka picked up her fifth win of the season by making 25 saves for the Oles, while Elizabeth Kubicek had 31 saves in the loss for the Wildcats. St. Olaf held a 34-27 advantage in shots on goal and won 41 of the game's 58 face-offs. McBane was a commanding 20-for-23 at the dot, while Moran was 10-for-13.

The two teams conclude the regular season on Saturday, Feb. 19 at 2 p.m. at Drake Arena in St. Paul. A St. Olaf win will see the Oles leapfrog the Wildcats in the seeding for the upcoming MIAC Playoffs.