Wildcats Crush Eutectics, Ready for Playoff Run

Canton, MO — After a 15-5 victory over the University of Health Sciences & Pharmacy Eutectics, the Culver-Stockton Wildcats are now looking ahead to the playoffs. With the win, the Wildcats secured the fifth spot in the conference and will face the St. Ambrose Fighting Bees.

Playing without substitutions, the Wildcats hosted the Eutectics at Ellison Poulton Stadium. A win meant a matchup with St. Ambrose; a loss would have sent them to face Ottawa. In previous meetings, Culver-Stockton narrowly lost to St. Ambrose 16-15, and also fell to Ottawa 14-9. With that in mind, the Wildcats had a clear idea of which team they wanted another shot at.

Addison Holm opened the scoring with a free-position shot in the first quarter. However, the Eutectics responded with three unanswered goals before Holm struck again on another free-position attempt, cutting the deficit to one going into the second quarter.

At the 13:52 mark in the second, Bella Olson connected with Kayleigh Poe, who buried a shot to tie the game at 3-3. Holm completed her hat trick with two minutes left in the half, giving the Wildcats the lead. The defense held strong, and Culver-Stockton entered halftime up 4-3.

The Eutectics did an excellent job defending the Wildcats’ leading scorer, Kaelin Quarles. As Quarles explained, “They realized they couldn’t really just face-guard me without removing an entire defender.” Quarles took advantage of the shift, scoring within two minutes of the half to spark a Wildcat scoring surge. She added another shortly after, stretching the lead to 6-3.

The Eutectics responded with a goal from top scorer Ella Penke, but with two minutes left in the third, Quarles completed her hat trick. Poe followed with back-to-back goals to secure a hat trick of her own, sending the Wildcats into the final quarter up 9-4.

In the fourth, the Wildcats continued to dominate. Holm added two more goals, one assisted by Quarles. Quarles also scored twice more, including the final goal to initiate a running clock. Ryleigh Boyce scored off a Quarles assist, and Poe added one more to her tally. Penke notched a late goal for the Eutectics, but the outcome was already sealed.

Kaelin Quarles led the team with seven points, tallying five goals and two assists. Addison Holm followed with five goals. Kayleigh Poe contributed five points on four goals and one assist. Starting goalkeeper Jillian Vervynck faced 13 shots on goal, making eight saves and allowing five.

The Wildcats wrapped up the game with a 15-5 win and will play St. Ambrose in Davenport, Iowa, on April 12 (time TBD). Culver-Stockton finishes the regular season at 8-7 overall and 4-4 in conference play. The Eutectics, meanwhile, will head to Ottawa.

Coach Erikson believes her team is ready. “I’d say we’re pretty prepared,” she said. “We’re getting ready to start watching film.” Erikson added that the team will focus on rest and recovery to be healthy and ready for the playoff matchup.