WINONA, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team earned a point on the road with a 2-2 tie before Saint Mary's University (Minn.) picked up the extra point in the standings in the shootout in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series opener between the two teams on Friday night at SMU Ice Arena.

St. Olaf (7-5-2, 3-3-1 MIAC) and Saint Mary's (4-9-1, 1-5-1 MIAC) exchanged goals in the second and third periods to send the game to overtime. After a scoreless 3-on-3 extra session, sophomore Lauren Spear gave the Oles a 1-0 advantage after the first round of the shootout before the Cardinals rallied for a 2-1 win in four rounds. The game was St. Olaf's first in over a month since a 7-1 win at UW-Superior on Saturday, Dec. 10.

Neither team was able to find a goal in the opening period but both managed to find a goal in the first two minutes of the second. Sophomore Grace Lankas broke the deadlock for St. Olaf just 57 seconds into the period, sliding the puck through traffic from the left point for her third goal of the season off assists from first year Solvei Berg-Messerole and junior Mia Jutz.

The hosts answered just 40 seconds later, however, on an unassisted goal by Jordy Wyant to knot the score at 1-1. Saint Mary's had three power plays for nearly five minutes of time with the extra skater in the period, but St. Olaf killed off the penalties to keep the game tied at the second intermission.

Senior Maddie Anderson registered her second goal of the season on the power play at 5:09 of the third period to give the Oles their second lead of the game with St. Olaf's 17th power-play goal of the season. The Oles held the 2-1 lead until the final five minutes when Kas Kingston scored unassisted at 15:03 for the Cardinals to send the game to overtime.

St. Olaf outshot Saint Mary's by a 5-1 margin in the five-minute overtime but was unable to find a goal as the game proceeded to a shootout. Spear scored on the backhand on the Oles' first attempt in the shootout, but the Cardinals tied it at 1-1 in the second round through Katie Pierpont. After the next three shooters were unable to convert, Allie Urlaub gave Saint Mary's the extra point by scoring in the fourth round.

The hosts held a 40-28 advantage in shots on goal over the course of the game. First year Carley Tuman made 38 saves in her second-career start for St. Olaf, while Jordan Keeley stopped 26 shots for Saint Mary's.

The series finale between the two teams is set for 4 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 14 at St. Olaf Ice Arena.