Byron Center, Michigan — The Aquinas women's hockey team has been throw into the gauntlet the past two weeks. The Saints played their fourth straight game against a ranked ACHA opponent on Friday evening (Feb. 10) and lost 6-1 to No. 7-ranked McKendree inside their home rink at the Southside Ice Arena.

The Saints (7-13) unwanted losing streak extended to eight games, while the Bearcats (12-6-2) continued their quest toward pursuing a national championship.

McKendree scored four goals in the first frame to put the contest out of reach early.

Kiley Hasenfratz bookended the period with a pair of power-play goals. The first coming 5:24 into the contest and the second with 46 seconds remaining. Brittney Kambeitz scored short-handed to give the Bearcats a 2-0 lead and Aria Groot also found the back of the net with less than two minutes to play in the period.

Juliana Davis recorded two assists in the first 20 minutes for McKendree.

The Bearcats added two more goals in the second period, both by Larisa Gorgevska-Sharpe. Hasenfratz assisted her first goal to pick up her team-leading third point of the game.

After McKendree goaltender Brianna Burke stopped 10 AQ shots across the first two periods, the Saints finally broke through, and shorthanded nonetheless. Olivia Menard slipped the puck past Burke on a counter-attack that was started by a pass from Kate Kramm.

It was Menard's first goal of the season and Kramm's third helper this year.

AQ goaltender Ashley Suske prevented McKendree from scoring in the third period. Suske ended up stopping 38 shots, as the Bearcats outshot AQ 44-16.

Next up, Aquinas travels to Concordia to face the Cardinals at 8 p.m. tomorrow (Feb. 11) at the the Arctic Coliseum in Chelsea, Mich.