DULUTH, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team broke a 1-1 tie with two second-period goals and held off the College of St. Scholastica late for a 4-2 victory in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series opener between the two teams on Friday night at Mars Lakeview Arena.

With the score tied at 1-1 after one, fifth-year senior Annika Patterson and sophomore Iona Welsch scored in the final nine minutes of the second period to give St. Olaf (9-5-2, 5-3-1 MIAC) a 3-1 lead after two. In the third, St. Scholastica (4-9-1, 3-6-0 MIAC) cut the Oles' lead to 3-2 with 2:08 to go with an extra-attacker goal and nearly tied the game 40 seconds later before first year Molly Terebayza scored an empty-netter with 13 seconds left to seal the victory.

The win extended St. Olaf's unbeaten streak to five-straight games (4-0-1), which marks the second five-game unbeaten run of the season for the Oles, who climbed into a tie for fourth in the MIAC standings. The victory was also St. Olaf's first-ever road win against the Saints, who had won the previous two encounters between the two programs at Mars Lakeview Arena.

Sophomore Jessica Wernli opened the scoring just 3:39 into the game, snagging the puck out of the air with her glove before entering the offensive zone and firing the puck into the top-right corner of the net for an unassisted goal. The goal was the sophomore's first of the season and the second of her career.

The Saints struck back less than 10 minutes later on a goal by Hanley Block at the 13:05 mark to even the game at 1-1 after one. First year Solvei Berg-Messerole rang a shot off the pipe with less than four minutes to go in the period and first year Hannah Fritz made a pad save in the final 20 seconds to keep the game tied.

In the second, Patterson broke the tie at 11:06 with her second goal of the season – her first since the second game of the season – off assists from sophomores Mandy Moran and Kate Carfagnini. Welsch doubled the Oles' lead with 1:03 remaining in the period, scoring off a feed from sophomore Lauren Spear in a 2-on-1 rush, to put St. Olaf up 3-1 after two. The Saints hit the pipe twice in the period.

The Oles maintained their two-goal advantage until Abby Pohlkamp pulled the hosts within one with 2:08 to go after St. Scholastica pulled its goaltender with 4:15 remaining. After the Saints again pulled their goalie in favor of the extra attacker, Fritz slid across her line to deny Lyndi Schubert with 1:29 left and keep St. Olaf on top.

Terebayza moved into a tie for the MIAC lead in goals by getting into double figures with her unassisted empty-net goal with 13 seconds to go. Fritz improved to 6-5-0 on the season with a 24-save night for St. Olaf, which killed off both of the minor penalties it committed in the game, which both came in the opening period. Elise Lund recorded 23 stops between the pipes for the Saints, who committed just one infraction it the game, which came prior to the start of the contest.

St. Olaf and St. Scholastica conclude their series on Saturday, Jan. 21 at 5 p.m. at St. Olaf Ice Arena.