STEVENS POINT, Wis. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey team began its season with a 4-0 road shutout of UW-Stevens Point on Saturday evening at K.B. Willett Arena.

Senior Sophie McBane scored twice to lead St. Olaf (1-0-0) to a win over UW-Stevens Point (0-1-0) in its season opener for the fourth consecutive season. Senior Grace Lankas and junior Solvei Berg-Messerole also tallied goals for the Oles, who got a 27-save shutout from senior Devon Cole to blank the Pointers for the first shutout of her career.

McBane got St. Olaf off to a quick start by scoring unassisted just 49 seconds into the opening period. The Oles took a 2-0 lead into the first intermission after Lankas scored a power-play goal at 18:45 of the first to double the lead at the break, with first year Bryn Etzell earning an assist in her collegiate debut.

Early in the second, McBane made it the second two-goal game of her career by scoring at 1:32 off assists from Lankas and sophomore Andi Hueslid to stretch the Oles' lead to 3-0. After scoring double-digit goals in each of her first two seasons, Berg-Messerole got an opening-night goal at 3:48 of the third, as first years Emilie Anderson and Nora McConnell joined Etzell with assists in their first collegiate games.

Cole was equal to the task on all 27 of UW-Stevens Point's shots on goal in the game, while Anne Beck had 34 saves in the loss for the hosts. Cole made 21 of her 27 saves over the final two periods.

The Oles and Pointers will conclude their weekend series with a 2 p.m. puck drop on Sunday, Nov. 3 back at K.B. Willett Arena.