ARDEN HILLS, Minn. – The Bethel University women's hockey team spent eight days over the Holiday break touring Italy and Switzerland and rang in the New Year in Como, Italy. The Royals played three games on the trip, two against teams from Switzerland and one from Italy and were victorious in all three by a combined score of 11-1. The team stayed a couple miles outside of the city on beautiful Lake Como.
“The international experience and playing games against international competition was really neat for our players,” Royals coach
Brian Carlson said. “It was a unique place to be with the culture, architecture and scenery.”
The Royals first game of the trip came against Neuchatel, Switzerland, one of Switzerland's strongest first division teams. Neuchatel is located in the Swiss Alps and the team was given a guided tour of Lucerne, one of Switzerland's most popular and panoramic towns in the morning. In the evening the Royals were victorious 5-0.
The next contest for Bethel was against the Zurich Lions in Zurich, Switzerland. The team was given a tour of Switzerland's banking capitol and most cosmopolitan city before taking on the Swiss champion Lions that night. Once again the Royals were victorious, this time by a score of 3-1.
The final game of the trip was played against the Italian champion Bolzano Italian Women's Team in Bezzanone, Italy. In the morning the group toured the world's most famous city on water; Venice. Bezzanone is located in the Italian Alps giving the Royals a chance to see both the Italian and Swiss Alps on the trip. Bethel defeated Bolzano 3-0. Following each contest the two teams had dinner together and exchanged cultural gifts.
“Meeting the other teams was good,” coach Carlson said. “They got to interact and share stories with each other.”
Other highlights of the trip included a tour of Milan, the fashion capital of the world. A tour of Como City center and a boat trip to see the historic “Villas” on Lake Como including Villa Olmo, Villa Erba and the famous George Clooney Villa. The team had a New Year's Eve lunch on Lake Como and in the evening enjoyed the fireworks and festival celebrating the New Year.
Bethel will now turn their attention to the second half of the season with a non-conference matchup against Augsburg College Friday evening at the Bethel University Arena. The Royals are currently 6-4-1 overall and 3-2-1 in MIAC play. The Royals sit in a three way tie for third place in the MIAC standings but have already played the top two teams from 2011-2012 in Gustavus and Concordia. The #2 ranked Gusties are a perfect 6-0 and 10-0 while Concordia is one of the teams tied with the Royals at 3-2-1. Bethel took three of the possible four points against the Cobbers in Moorhead. Bethel swept last place Hamline in their other MIAC series.
“I am very happy with where we are at,” coach Carlson said. “We played a very tough schedule both in conference and out of conference. The top two MIAC teams from last year we are already done with and it was big to take three of four points against Concordia. We are hoping to stay healthy and make a run.”
The Royals have been led in the scoring column by a dynamic trio in
Cristina Masten (13 pts., Jr., Fergus Falls, Minn.),
Lindsay Burman (12 pts., Jr., Stanchfield, Minn.) and senior
Biz Huss (11 pts., Beaver Bay, Minn.). All three rank in the top five in scoring in the MIAC.
Defense and goaltending have been the strength for the Royals all season long as a pair of solid net minders,
Jess Newstrom (Sr., Cambridge, Minn.) and
Erika Allen (Fr., Roseville, Minn.), rank third and fourth respectively in goals against average. Newstrom is the league leader in save percentage (.957).
“We are doing very good in goals against thanks to outstanding goal tending and we are a very hard working team,” Carlson said. “We are looking to generate more offense and score more in the second half. The MIAC has a lot of very good goaltenders.”
Following Friday's contest against Augsburg the Royals will host #5 ranked UW-River Falls in a rare Wednesday night matchup. The game against the Falcons will be the final non-conference tilt of the season. MIAC play starts back up the following weekend and the Royals will look to take down St. Olaf College, the other team tied with Bethel and Concordia for third place in the MIAC standings.
