NORTHFIELD, Minn. – A first-period goal from sophomore Iona Welsch was enough to give the St. Olaf College women's hockey team a 1-0 victory over Concordia-Moorhead in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) series opener between the two teams on Friday night at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

Welsch scored a power-play goal in the final minute of the opening period for St. Olaf (11-5-2, 7-3-1 MIAC) and the Oles made the goal stand up in blanking Concordia-Moorhead (5-13-0, 2-9-0 MIAC). The win extended St. Olaf's unbeaten streak to seven games (6-0-1) – matching its longest since Feb. 2011 – and its winning streak to four games.

After winning the series finale between the two programs last season, the Oles have won back-to-back games against the Cobbers for the first time since sweeping the series in Nov. 2010. St. Olaf's seven MIAC wins and 11 overall victories are the program's most since 2012-13, as the Oles continued their best-ever start to a season.

Welsch netted the lone goal of the game with 55 seconds remaining in the opening period, firing the puck home from close range after sophomore Grace Lankas' shot from the left point ricocheted to her. Welsch's goal was her sixth of the season and fourth in the last six games. Lankas collected her team-leading 13th assist of the season, while classmate Hannah Metric added her fourth assist in the last two games.

After Welsch's goal, St. Olaf was whistled for a minor penalty with 34 seconds to go in the opening period and was called for another just 36 seconds into the second period, setting up 51 seconds of 5-on-3 power-play time for the visitors. The Oles killed off both penalties thanks, in part, to Fritz sliding across her line quickly to thwart Morgan Sauvageau just under a minute into the middle period.

Five minutes later, Fritz produced a save to prevent the Cobbers from scoring in a 2-on-1 rush and keep St. Olaf on top. The Oles limited the visitors to just 17 shots on goal in the game and Fritz stopped all 17 to earn her eighth victory of the season and her third shutout.

Welsch's power-play goal was the lone shot that got by Kiana Flaig in net for Concordia-Moorhead, as Flaig suffered the loss with a 20-save night. St. Olaf's power play, which entered the game ranked sixth in the country at 29.0 percent, was 1-for-3 on the night but the one goal was the difference in the game.

The two teams wrap up their MIAC series with a 2 p.m. start on Saturday, Jan. 28 at St. Olaf Ice Arena. Fans are invited to stick around after the game and skate with the Oles on the ice following the game.