ST. PAUL, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team had to settle for a split of its Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series with St. Catherine University after a 3-1 road loss on Saturday afternoon at Drake Arena.

Coming off a 4-0 home victory on Thursday night, St. Olaf (4-8-1, 1-4-1 MIAC) fell behind 3-0 after St. Kate's (3-6-0, 2-4-0 MIAC) scored once in each period. Senior Rachel Wieland got the Oles on the board at 6:29 of the third, but St. Olaf could not get any closer the rest of the way. The win for the Wildcats was the eighth consecutive win for the home team in the series between the two programs.

After committing a penalty just 1:01 into the game, St. Kate's held St. Olaf to just two shots – one on goal – on the power play before getting the opening goal from Halle Dunleavy at the 5:42 mark of the opening period. Dunleavy's goal came in a rush with Ana Myers, as Dunleavy's shot appeared to deflect off the stick of a St. Olaf skater on its way into the net. The goal came on one of just four shots on goal in the opening period for the Wildcats.

In the second, junior Emma Heath had a chance to tie the game after tipping a pass out of St. Olaf's defensive zone and skating most of the length of the ice, but Addie Oettinger made a stop to deny Heath on the backhand with seven minutes to go in the period. Lilly Gillespie doubled the Wildcats' lead two minutes later by flipping the puck into an open net after deking onto the backhand after driving to the middle from the right circle.

St. Olaf thought it had cut its deficit in half with a 4-on-4 goal in the final minute of the second period, but junior Molly Terebayza was judged to have been in the crease when providing the screen on a shot by first year Reese Swanson that went in the net. After the game resumed, the Oles committed a holding penalty in the final 15 seconds of the period to give St. Kate's an extended 4-on-3 power play to start the third.

The Wildcats cashed in on the power just as the 4-on-3 was about to turn into a 5-on-4 when Raechel Painovich scored on a one-timer after a loose puck rolled into the slot just 1:04 into the third. Wieland gave St. Olaf hope of a third-period rally with an unassisted goal at 6:29 of the third, as the senior squeezed a shot through the five-hole for her sixth goal as an Ole.

Oettinger stopped 22 of the 23 shots she faced to collect the win for St. Kate's, while junior Hannah Fritz had 25 saves in the loss for St. Olaf.

The Oles will return to action in 2025 with a 6 p.m. start against Hamline University at TRIA Rink in St. Paul on Thursday, Jan. 16.