CHESTERFIELD, Mo. | Maryville Ice Hockey Center - Sixth-ranked McKendree University women's hockey (1-1-0, 1-1-0 WMCH) took on the fifth-ranked Maryville Saints again on Saturday evening after winning the Friday night season-opener but then narrowly fell to the Saints, 5-4, after a trememendous three-goal, third-period comeback. The Bearcats had three scorers on the day with senior defense Aria Groot tallying two while senior forward Kiley Hasenfratz and junior forward Janaya Laqua each fired one on the day. With her two goals, Groot became the program's all-time point leader, sitting at 80 career points so far. McKendree gets back on its home ice before hitting the road with aThursday, September 26 matinee against Niagara at 2:00PM with two conference bouts at Lindenwood coming on September 28 and 29.

This top-10 match up saw Maryville go up early over the Bearcats but McKendree did not hold back as the game continued on. The Bearcats, trailed 2-0 after the first period, cutting the deficit early in the second period as senior defense Aria Groot fired a goal off a dish-out by junior forward Janaya Laqua. The Saints put up one in the period, as the Bearcats entered the third period trailing by two scores. 

The third and final period of the weekend McKendree push back with the first of three scores in the period coming from Laqua in the 6th minute, putting the game on a 3-2 count. Following up the second McKendree goal, MU added one more but the Bearcats fought back with the senior forward Kiley Hasenfratz scoring with an assist by junior forward Jayna Barnden. The Bearcats put one one more goal with Groot finding the back of the net following a pass by senior defense Lainy Stienstra, which put McKendree just down one score at 5-4. 

The Bearcats were unable to finish off the comeback, falling to the Saints to split the weekend overall. Junior goaltender Rachel Staresinic held net for full time, collecting 19 saves in the effort.