NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team completed a season-opening sweep of visiting UW-Stevens Point by getting goals from first years Iona Welsch and Lauren Spear in a 2-1 victory on Saturday afternoon at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

Welsch gave St. Olaf (2-0-0) an early lead at 6:57 of the opening period and Spear doubled the Oles' advantage on the power play at 12:11 of the third period. UW-Stevens Point (0-2-0) got one goal back in the final 15 seconds on a goal by Nicole Neuberger.

The sweep was the first for the Oles since the 2016-17 team swept St. Kate's by scores of 4-3 and 4-1 on Jan. 27-28, 2017. Senior Ivy Shonka picked up her first collegiate victory by stopping 24 of the 25 shots she faced in the win.

Welsch scored for the second-straight game to start her collegiate career to get the scoring started for St. Olaf inside the first seven minutes of the game. The first year's goal came off of an assist by classmate Sophie McBane, who directed the puck into the path of Welsch in front for the opening goal.

The Oles maintained the 1-0 lead until past the midway point of the third period when Spear tallied her first collegiate goal on the power play to give St. Olaf a two-goal advantage. After possessing the puck in the offensive zone, junior Annika Patterson found sophomore Zephryn Jager on the right and Jager slid the puck across to Spear, who completed a three-point opening weekend with the goal.

With St. Olaf closing in on a shutout, UW-Stevens Point got on the board with 15.2 seconds remaining when Neuberger fired a shot into the top-right corner of the net from the right side for the lone goal the Pointers got past Shonka in the game.

The Oles did not commit a penalty in the game and held a 29-25 advantage in shots on goal. St. Olaf also won 37 of the game's 52 face-offs thanks in part to a 14-for-16 performance from Spear on the dot.

Next up for the Oles is another home non-conference series as Trine University visits St. Olaf Ice Arena beginning on Friday, Nov. 5 at 4 p.m.