BLAINE, Minn. – The St. Olaf College men's hockey team earned a split of its first Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series of the season by defeating Bethel University, 2-1, on Saturday night at Bethel University Arena at the National Sports Center.

After Bethel (3-1-0, 1-1-0 MIAC) took the opener by a 4-2 score in Northfield on Friday night, St. Olaf (2-1-0, 1-1-0 MIAC) bounced back by getting goals from first year Kelijah McElroy late in the second period and sophomore Ben Luscko early in the third. Junior Lukas Haugen nearly recorded his first-career shutout for the Oles before the Royals scored with 2.5 seconds to go.

In a matchup of teams who both received votes in this week's DCU/USCHO Division III Men's Poll, neither team was able to make a breakthrough until McElroy tallied his first collegiate goal at 19:19 of the second period to give the Oles a 1-0 lead. Junior Parker Casey and sophomore Eric Brown set up the goal for McElroy, who had four assists in his first two collegiate games entering the night.

Luscko matched McElroy by scoring the first goal of his collegiate career at 1:55 of the third period to double St. Olaf's lead to 2-0, with sophomores Jonathan Young and Connor Kalthoff earning assists on the eventual game-winning goal. The Oles protected the two-goal lead until Sam Wilhite tallied an extra-attacker goal in the closing seconds for the hosts.

Haugen picked up his second win in as many starts this season by stopping 24 of the 25 shots he faced for St. Olaf and made 13 saves in the third period alone. Austin Ryman had 12 of his 24 stops in the middle period for Bethel but took the loss. Shots on goal ended 26-25 in favor of the Oles. The Royals were 0-for-5 on the power play in the game, including a five-minute power play over the midway point of the third period.

St. Olaf plays its next three games on its home ice, beginning with a non-conference matchup with UW-River Falls on Thursday, Nov. 10 at 7 p.m.