NORTHFIELD, Minn. – Despite holding a more than two-to-one advantage in shots on goal, the St. Olaf College women's hockey team dropped its season opener, 2-1, to visiting UW-Stevens Point on Friday evening at St. Olaf Ice Arena.
St. Olaf (0-1-0) outshot UW-Stevens Point by a 44-21 margin, but Emily Griege made 43 saves to propel the Pointers to the season-opening win. The victory was the first for UW-Stevens Point against St. Olaf since 2022 after the Oles swept both games of the series in each of the last two seasons.
Amanda Pouchnik opened the scoring for the visitors with a shot from outside the left circle at 13:02 of the opening period. St. Olaf answered in the closing minutes of the period when senior
Solvei Berg-Messerole got the puck from sophomore
Gianna Kowalkoski along the left boards, weaved to the net, and scored on the backhand with 1:24 to go in the first.
Despite being outshot by a 19-4 margin in the middle period, UW-Stevens Point scored the lone goal of the second with a breakaway goal by Dani Weiland at 12:11 for the game-winning tally. Weiland's goal came off a stretch pass from Riley Novak just six seconds after first year
Mackinley Ronan was denied by Griege on a breakaway.
St. Olaf again dominated the shot count in the third period – this time by a 17-8 differential – but was unable to get the puck past Griege, who thwarted Kowalkoski at point-blank range three minutes into the period. Inside the final eight minutes, Berg-Messerole fired high with the net gaping before Griege made a save on senior
Molly Terebayza's rocket off an offensive-zone draw less than one minute later.
With their net empty, the Oles generated one final opportunity for Terebayza with 49 seconds to go, but Griege got her stick to the senior's shot from the slot to tip it into the netting. Sophomore
Baylyn Shankman made 19 saves on the night for St. Olaf but took the loss. The Oles did not commit a penalty in the loss but went 0-for-2 on the power play.
The two teams will finish off opening weekend with a 2 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, Nov. 1 on St. Olaf's Senior Day.
