ST. JOSEPH, Minn. – In the first half of Saturday's game, the College of Saint Benedict soccer team had St. Kate's number. The team scored early, had more shots than the Wildcats and put pressure on St. Kates' defense.
 
The second half, however, was all the Wildcats. SCU scored five second-half goals and CSB fell 5-1 Saturday afternoon in St. Joseph. The loss marks the second straight for Saint Benedict, which is now 5-3-1 and in sixth in the MIAC. CSB's loss, coupled with Bethel's 1-0 win at St. Olaf, pushed the Royals head of CSB in the league standings. The loss marks CSB's first home loss of 2019.
 
In the first half of play it was Saint Benedict (8-5-2 overall) that ran the show. Roxy Veldman put a shot on net in the first minute of play, and then Sydney Sherek scored in the third minute off an assist from Veldman to make it 1-0.
 
That lead stuck the remainder of the first half and into the second for CSB. Sherek and Megan Thompson both put shots on net in the first half, and Chloe Miller had a shot on net after a CSB corner kick. The Wildcats had three straight corner kicks to end the first half, and put the ball in play right in front of CSB keeper Kendall Koenen, but Saint Benedict's defense kept the ball out of the net.
 
Koenen had a big save to start the second half, and CSB kept up the pressure early as Veldman put another shot on net. The Wildcats (11-5, 7-2) tied the game in the 63^rd minute, and kept the pressure on from there. Koenen had a save less than a minute after SCU's first goal, then she had back-to-back saves in the 68^th minute, but St. Kate's eventual game-winner came in the 71^st minute.
 
From there it was all the Wildcats. St. Kate's scored its third goal of the game at the 76:57 mark, and the fourth and fifth goals came less than 20 seconds apart at 82:34 and 82:50.
 
After out-shooting the Wildcats 7-1 in the first half – including 5-1 on net – St. Kate's had 12 shots to CSB's two in the second half. Saint Benedict finished with nine shots, seven on net, to the Wildcats' 13 (11 on). Veldman, Thompson and Sherek all had two shots on net for CSB. Koenen finished the day with six saves – five in the second half alone.
 
Saint Benedict has two games remaining in the regular season, and looks to pick up a win to not only stay in the conference race, but to give itself a shot at hosting a MIAC Tournament game. The team travels to Wednesday, Oct. 30.