DULUTH, Minn. – Senior
Solvei Berg-Messerole reached the 100-point milestone for the St. Olaf College women's hockey team in a 3-3 tie against the College of St. Scholastica on Saturday at Mars Lakeview Arena.
Berg-Messerole picked up a pair of assists to help St. Olaf (9-11-1, 6-7-1 MIAC) rally from a 2-0 deficit to take a 3-2 lead before St. Scholastica (8-11-2, 3-9-2 MIAC) sent the game to overtime with a game-tying goal in the final 20 seconds of regulation. After a scoreless overtime period, Greta Culshaw-Klein scored the lone goal of the four-round shootout to give the Saints the extra point.
The one point kept St. Olaf alone in fifth place in the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) standings, but four teams are now within four points of the Oles with two weekends left in the regular season. St. Olaf has cushions of one point over Concordia-Moorhead, two points over Bethel University, three points over Saint Mary's University, and four points over St. Scholastica. The Oles still have series remaining the Royals and Cardinals.
Goals from Culshaw-Klein and Alaina Hedberg got St. Scholastica out to a 2-0 lead midway through the second period before sophomore
Avery Shaw got the Oles on the board with her first collegiate goal at 16:15 of the middle period. Berg-Messerole and classmate
Molly Terebayza assisted on Shaw's tally.
In the third, Terebayza netted a power-play goal at 5:53 and an even-strength goal at 16:11 to give St. Olaf a 3-2 lead. Berg-Messerole hit the 100-point milestone with an assist on Terebayza's first goal of the period, making her just the third 100-point scorer in program history. Terebayza's two-goal performance was her first of the season and moved her into a tie with Berg-Messerole for the team lead with eight goals this season.
With time winding down, Hanley Block squeezed a shot through traffic for an extra-attacker goal for the Saints with 16.6 seconds remaining in the third to send the game to overtime. Both teams had three shots on goal in the 3-on-3 overtime but neither could find a winner.
The first seven shooters of the shootout all failed to score before Culshaw-Klein, who scored the game-winner in St. Scholastica's 1-0 win on Friday night in Northfield, scored in the fourth round to give the Saints a five-point weekend.
In the first action of her collegiate career, first year
Ray Anderson made 33 saves for St. Olaf, which was outshot by a 40-25 margin a day after holding a 31-19 advantage in that category. The Oles were 1-for-2 on the power play in the game, while the Saints did not have any power-play opportunities.
St. Olaf will begin its series with Saint Mary's University on home ice at 6 p.m. on Friday, Feb. 13.