NORTHFIELD, Minn. –
Emily Lester (Eau Claire, WI/Memorial) scored a first-period hat trick to lead the seventh-ranked UW-Stevens Point to a 7-1 win over St. Olaf in the season opener for both teams on Friday night at Northfield Ice Arena.
Box Score Lester scored three times, twice on the power play, in a span of 7:10 in the opening period for UW-Stevens Point (1-0-0). The victory improved the Pointers to 21-2-2 all-time against St. Olaf (0-1-0).
Lester's first goal came unassisted at 6:53 of the first period. Kat Nejedlo and
Sierra Winter (Volga, SD/Sioux Valley) earned assists on Lester's second at the 13:42 mark. The junior then completed her hat trick 21 seconds later with a goal assisted by Nejedlo and
Betsy Anderson (Farmington, MN/Farmington).
Ali Biagini (Stillwater, MN/Stillwater) extended the UW-Stevens Point lead to 4-0 after the first period and Lester earned an assist to complete her four-point night.
Rachel Reynard (Hortonville, WI/Hortonville) scored the lone goal of the second period off assists from
Nicole Schaub (Vadnais Heights, MN/White Bear Lake) and
Maddie Schlossmacher (Roseville, MN/Roseville). St. Olaf got on the board first in the third period with a goal by Dure Engelman at 6:51.
UW-Stevens Point scored the final two goals of the game on goals by
Jamie Ertl (Menomonee Falls, WI/Menomonee Falls) and
Shauna Bollinger (Menomonie, WI/Menomonie). Reynard earned an assist on Bollinger's goal, her second assist of the night. Thirteen UWSP players recorded at least one point in the game.
Janna Beilke-Skoug (Madison, WI/East) made 21 saves in net for the Pointers in the win. Cassie Alexander recorded 32 saves for the Oles.
UW-Stevens Point was 2-for-7 on the power play, compared to 0-for-5 for St. Olaf. The Pointers outshot the Oles 39-22 in the game.
The two teams finish the season-opening series at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 1 at Northfield Ice Arena.
