ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team saw its program-record eight-game unbeaten streak come to an end with a 3-2 overtime series-opening loss to St. Catherine University on Friday night at Drake Arena.

Sophomore Iona Welsch scored a power-play goal in the final two minutes of regulation to help St. Olaf (12-6-2, 8-4-1 MIAC) force the game to overtime, but St. Kate's (11-7-2, 5-6-2 MIAC) scored juts 25 seconds into the extra session to grab the extra point in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings. Despite the loss, the Oles remained in third place in the conference with five games remaining in the regular season.

The loss was St. Olaf's first since a 6-0 defeat to Augsburg University on Saturday, Dec. 3. With the win, the Wildcats improved to 10-1-2 at home this season – with the lone loss coming to second-ranked Gustavus Adolphus College – and improved to 7-1-1 in the last nine games in the series.

Neither team was able to find a goal in the opening period, although St. Kate's nearly got on the board early when Emmie Verhaagh rang a shot off the pipe four minutes in. St. Olaf was assessed a penalty for too many players on the ice penalty seconds later but held the Wildcats without a shot on the penalty kill. Patterson had the best three chances to score in the period for the Oles – all in the final five minutes – but Elizabeth Kubicek thwarted Patterson twice after the fifth-year senior got in on goal.

Sophomore Grace Lankas nearly made the breakthrough for St. Olaf early in the second period, but her shot in the closing seconds of a power play hit the pipe. St. Kate's eventually opened the scoring on an unassisted, shorthanded goal by Marie Reimer at the 15:10 mark, as Reimer chipped the puck into the neutral zone, fought through the St. Olaf defense, and scored the Wildcats' first shorthanded goal of the season. It was also the first shorthanded goal the Oles have surrendered all season and ended first year Hannah Fritz's scoreless streak at 217:218.

The two teams combined for four penalties in the final five minutes of the second period, but neither team was able to convert, as St. Kate's carried a 1-0 lead into the second intermission. Early in the third, St. Olaf killed off the final 30 seconds of a late second-period penalty and got a tying goal from sophomore Sophie McBane at 1:33, as McBane tipped in a shot by Lankas for her fifth goal of the season. The assist was Lankas' 15th of the season, tying her for 10th on St. Olaf's single-season list and marking the most assists by an Ole in a season since 2012-13.

First years Molly Terebayza and Solvei Berg-Messerole both hit the pipe less than five minutes after McBane's goal, but the Wildcats grabbed their second lead of the game at 2-1 on a goal by Lauren Henriksen with 5:28 to go in the third. The Oles tied the game for the second time in the period with 1:34 to go when Weslch tipped in a Berg-Messerole shot with St. Olaf on the power play and its net empty. The goal was Welsch's fifth in the last eight games.

St. Kate's had the lone shot on goal after Patterson's goal and went on to win the game just 25 seconds into overtime when Laura Denchfield forced a turnover in the offensive zone and got the puck by Fritz to end the game. Fritz had 24 saves in the loss, while Kubicek made 23 saves to collect the win.

The series finale between the two teams is slated for 3 p.m. on Saturday, Feb. 4 at St. Olaf Ice Arena. All youth are admitted free to the game as part of a celebration of National Girls & Women in Sports Day. There will also be free pizza, giveaways, a photo booth, and a poster signing session with Ole student-athletes following the game.