BLAINE, Minn. – Despite out-shooting St. Catherine and controlling more than 60% of faceoffs, the Bethel University women's hockey team came up just short in a 2–0 setback Friday evening at Bethel University Arena in the MIAC opener.

St. Catherine opened the scoring at 8:32 of the first period when Aly Vogelsang buried a loose puck off a feed from Jaden Kozak, giving the Wildcats an early 1–0 edge.

Bethel pushed back with consistent offensive pressure, generating 28 shots on goal and holding a 31–18 advantage in the faceoff circle, but Wildcats goaltender Lea Grassia turned aside every opportunity, finishing with 28 saves.

The Royals' best stretch came in the second period as they out-chanced the Wildcats and earned their lone power-play opportunity of the night, though the sequence shifted briefly to 4-on-4 before returning to even strength.

Still trailing 1–0 in the final minutes, Bethel pulled the goaltender for an extra attacker, but St. Catherine sealed the result with an empty-net goal from Paige Loidolt at 19:30 of the third.

Senior goalie Ashley Gustafson (Hess) was strong between the pipes for Bethel, stopping 25 of 26 shots she faced in 58:53 of action.

With the loss, Bethel moves to 2–1–0 overall and 0–1–0 in MIAC play. The Royals and Wildcats close out the weekend series on Saturday.