ST. PAUL, Minn. – After not beating the University of St. Thomas for more than a decade, College of Saint Benedict hockey coach Jen Kranz and her team seem to have the Tommies' number.
 
For the second straight season, the Blazers upset a ranked St. Thomas team Friday night. Last season, CSB beat UST – which was receiving votes in Division III at the time – 5-3 in the Blazers' last home game of the year. Friday, Saint Benedict defeated the No. 4 Tommies 3-2 thanks to a pair of second-period goals by Elli Marvin and strong play in the net by Angel Hillstrom on UST's home ice in St. Paul, Minn.
 
Friday also marks the second win against a ranked team this season for CSB. The Blazers beat and tied No. 9 Gustavus in a pair of MIAC games in December.
 
"We came out ready to play from the get-go, and we really never gave up," Kranz said. "We didn't give them a ton to work with. We took away their time and space and had a good, gritty team win."
 
CSB is now 6-11-1 overall and 4-6-1 in the MIAC. The Blazers and Hamline are tied for seventh in the league. The loss marked the Tommies' third of the season and just their second conference loss of the year. St. Thomas is now 13-3-1 overall and 8-2-1 in the MIAC.
 
Saint Benedict struck early against the Tommies Friday night. Despite getting outshot 13-3 in the first period, the Blazers went up 1-0 midway through the period when Siri Berg-Moberg scored off an assist from Liz Hermes.
 
The Blazers held that lead through the first period and into the second, but the Tommies tied the game at the 5:27 mark when Kathryn Larson scored her 10^th goal of the year. St. Thomas took a 2-1 lead in the 12^th minute when Leah Schwartzman scored a power-play goal.
 
That lead only held for a few minutes, however, as Marvin and the CSB offense took over. Marvin moved into a tie for second in the MIAC in goals with a pair of unanswered goals late in the second period. The first came on the power play off an assist from Maddie Rainey with just over four minutes left in the second, and Marvin's second goal of the game – and 10^th of the season – came with 36 seconds left in the period off an assist from Shelby Schneider.
 
"Elli is at another level right now," Kranz said. "She's playing like there's no other way than to put the puck in the net and win games. And Angel is just outstanding."
 
The Tommies, who finished with 39 shots on goal to CSB's 18, had 12 shots in the third and final period, but Hillstrom – the Blazers' first-year goalie – turned away all 12 to help the Blazers hold on for the upset.
 
Hillstrom added 37 saves to her season total Friday night to move back into first in the league with 384 total saves so far this season. She stopped 13 shots in the first period and 12 in both the second and third periods. Marvin finished with five shots on net to lead CSB and Brigette Miller finished with four.
 
The Blazers and Tommies are back in action at 3 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 30, at the MAC in St. Cloud.