ST. CLOUD, Minn. - The Bethel University women's hockey team made their way to St. Cloud, Minnesota to take on the College of Saint Benedict in a Thursday night contest and saw the Blazers come out with a 3-2 victory despite Bethel drastically outshooting Saint Ben's. CSB took a 2-0 lead after the first period and hung on down the stretch for the win. The Royals had won both games played thus far in 2018 after a sweep last weekend of Concordia University-Wisconsin and were looking to keep their winning ways going against the one win Blazers, but CSB had other ideas as they improved to 2-10-1 overall and 1-5-1 in the MIAC while Bethel fell to 5-8-1 overall and also 1-5-1 in the MIAC.

The Blazers scored twice in the opening frame both at even strength at 10:33 and 19:33. The Royals first score came later in the second period on a power play when Bailey Thompson found the back of the net with assists to Bri Stafne and Natalie Simons. CSB took back the two goal lead in the third period at 5:25 with another score to make it 3-1. At 17:23 in the third period the Royals pulled goalie Michelle Klimstra for the extra skater and just nine seconds later Kaitlyn VanTassel scored off a Bri Stafne assist to pull within one and put the pressure on the Blazers. The Royals fired off four more shots in the remaining minutes but were unable to get the equalizer. Bethel outshot CSB heavily by a 47-19 mark, including 17-3 in the second period and 15-7 in the third period as they tried to mount the comeback. 

The Royals and Blazers will finish the series on Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. in Bethel University Arena.