BLAINE, Minn. – The Bethel University women's hockey team snapped out of their recent funk with a big 4-1 victory over the College of Saint Benedict Friday night. The Royals scored the same number of goals against the Blazers as they had scored in the previous four games to grab their first win of 2017 and improve to 7-7-2 overall. Bethel wasted little time in setting the tone for the night with two goals in the first half of the first period. They would add another score in the second and the fourth in the third period to pull away from CSB.

Natalie Simons scored the Royals first goal just over three minutes into the game with an assist from Sarah Moy. Bethel's leading scorer on the season, freshman Kaitlyn VanTassel, scored the second Royals goal at 8:28 into the first. Kirsten Olson assisted VanTassel, who has scored seven goals to go along with seven assists for 14 points on the year. The Blazers were able to get on the scoreboard later in the first period to make it 2-1.

Defenseman Hannah Williams gave Bethel a two goal lead early in the second period with her first goal of her senior season. Lauren Kolak and Emma Johnson assisted Williams. For Kolak the assist was her team and MIAC leading 12th of the season. Olson recorded her second point of the night with a goal at the 13:12 mark in the third period with assists to Erika Geary and Bailey Thompson.

The Blazers actually outshot the Royals 32-30 but Michelle Klimstra made 31 saves in net for Bethel. The Royals had just one power play on the night, getting two shots off but no goals. CSB was 0-for-5 on the power play, outshooting Bethel just 8-5 during their ten minutes on the power play.

The Royals and Blazers will finish their series Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. from Dave Torrey Arena in St. Cloud, Minnesota.