NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Visiting North Central College scored three second-half goals to pull away and hand the St. Olaf College women's soccer team a 4-0 loss in the season opener for both teams on Friday evening at Rolf Mellby Field.

North Central (1-0-0) held a slender 1-0 lead at halftime on a late goal by Sarah Andrey before tacking on three goals in the span of just over 20 minutes after the break. Elle Sutter, Katie Huey, and Tabitha Schaver also scored for the Cardinals, who outshot St. Olaf (0-1-0) by a 17-8 margin in the first meeting between the two programs.

First year Emily Johnson had four of St. Olaf's eight shots and one of the team's two shots on goal in the loss.

With the game heading towards halftime still scoreless, North Central broke the deadlock in the 40th minute when Sarah Andrey got her head to a cross from a right-wing cross from Sophia Hein. The Cardinals outshot the Oles by a 10-3 margin and had all 10 of the game's corner kicks in the opening 45 minutes.

St. Olaf nearly found a tying goal inside the first five minutes of the second half when sophomore Megan Timmerman slid a shot just wide of the right post from the edge of the six-yard box after being slipped in. North Central doubled its lead on a long-distance shot by Sutter in the 64th minute before getting a penalty kick from Huey a little over 10 minutes later. Schaver capped the scoring with just over five minutes remaining.

Senior Maddie Black made two saves in the loss for St. Olaf, while Jordan Boyd had two stops for North Central in picking up the win.

The Oles are back in action at Rolf Mellby Field on Sunday, Sept. 3 for an 11:30 a.m. kickoff against St. Norbert College.