STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team used a pair of second-period goals to pick up a 2-1 season-opening victory over UW-Stevens Point on Friday evening at K.B. Willett Arena.

After a scoreless opening period, sophomore Grace Lankas and first year Solvei Berg-Messerole netted unassisted goals in the middle period for St. Olaf (1-0-0), which began its season with a one-goal win over UW-Stevens Point (0-1-0) for the second season in a row. In her first collegiate start, sophomore Devon Cole stopped 23 of the 24 shots she faced to keep the Pointers off the board until the final two-plus minutes.

Both teams had eight shots on goal in the opening period but could not find a breakthrough before Lankas struck 2:48 into the second period for her second-career goal. Less than two minutes after the goal, St. Olaf successfully killed off a major penalty thanks, in part, to seven saves from Cole on the penalty kill.

Midway through the period, the Oles struck for a power-play goal to double their lead to 2-0 with Berg-Messerole's first collegiate tally. St. Olaf had a pair of power plays later in the period but settled for a two-goal lead at the second intermission.

In the third, the Oles killed off a minor penalty midway through the period to maintain their two-goal cushion until Courtney Liesing got the Pointers on the board with 2:05 remaining. UW-Stevens Point pulled its goalie with 1:35 to go in search of a tying goal but did not muster a shot.

The Pointers held a 24-22 advantage in shots on goal in the game and got 20 saves from Olivia Schultz in the loss.

The same two teams conclude their season-opening series on Saturday, Oct. 29 at 2 p.m. at K.B. Willett Arena.