NORTHFIELD, Minn. – The St. Olaf College women's hockey returned from a break of over one month with a 4-2 victory in the opener of its non-conference series with Aurora University on Friday night at St. Olaf Ice Arena.

St. Olaf (6-6-0) got out to a 3-0 lead early in the second period before Aurora (4-9-0) made it a one-goal game with goals eight minutes apart. The Oles extended their lead back to two late in the second and went on to close out the victory in the third for their first win over the Spartans in three meetings.

Senior Solvei Berg-Messerole tallied a goal and an assist in the win to move up to fourth in program history with 90 career points. The senior assumed sole possession of eighth place with her 41st goal as an Ole to open the scoring before adding a 49th assist to her tally in the second period. Sophomore Emilie Anderson, first year Mackinley Ronan, and senior Molly Terebayza also scored the win, while first year Kellsey Kludt picked up a pair of assists.

On a night where St. Olaf outshot Aurora by a 48-15 margin in shots on goal, sophomore Baylyn Shankman improved to 6-3-0 on the season with a 13-save evening. Shankman also earned her first collegiate point with an assist on Berg-Messerole's opening goal. Macy Blooming kept the game within reach for the visitors by making 44 saves on the night.

Berg-Messerole got the scoring started at 7:27 of the first period with a 5-on-3 power-play goal after Aurora was assessed minor penalties 14 seconds apart in the first six minutes. After receiving a pass from Shankman, Berg-Messerole eventually poked the puck home on a rebound off her initial shot for her team-leading sixth goal of the season.

Anderson flipped home a backhand with 25.1 seconds remaining to give the Oles a 2-0 lead after a period that saw St. Olaf outshoot Aurora by a 19-5 margin. Just 1:24 into the third, Ronan scored an unassisted goal to push the Oles' lead to 3-0, but the Spartans responded with goals from Callie Lane and Jillian Bilsborough to make it a 3-2 game with over seven minutes left in the second.

With its lead cut to one, St. Olaf re-established a two-goal cushion when Berg-Messerole fed the puck across for a wide-open Terebayza to one-time home for Terebayza's second goal of the season. Kludt also collected an assist on the goal, which was the final tally of the night. The Oles took 17 of the third period's 20 shots on goal but could not get another one past Blooming.

The two teams will conclude their series with a 2 p.m. puck drop on Saturday, Jan. 10 at St. Olaf Ice Arena.