RIVER FALLS, Wis. – Jamie Bimberg and Ava Stinnett scored goals but the College of Saint Benedict hockey team (0-1) dropped an 8-2 decision to the defending NCAA DIII champion and top-ranked UW-River Falls (1-0) as the season opened on Saturday, Nov. 2 for both teams.

In the road nonconference setback, CSB fell to 0-1 with a game against UW-Superior set for Tuesday, Nov. 5, again on the road.

UW-River Falls, which was 28-0 a year ago in their run to the national title, opened quickly and had a 2-0 lead after the first period. The Falcons extended the advantage to 4-0 before CSB's Jamie Bimberg tallied an even-strength goal at the 14:02 mark of the second period. Bimberg scored her second career goal off assists from Skylar Salscheider and Greer Hardacre, who both tallied their first career assists. UW-River Falls answered with two more goals for a 6-1 lead in the second period. Then, Stinnett recorded her first goal of the season and 26^th of her career on a power play goal at 19:55 of the second period. On the score, CSB had assists from Aurora Opsahl and Presley Kraemer as the Bennies trailed, 6-2. After that CSB score, UW-River Falls added two third-period goals for an 8-2 lead.

Overall, UW-River Falls had a 26-to-18 shots edge but just 11-to-10 in the opening period. In the second period the Falcons had a 11-to-6 shots margin and a 4-2 mark in the third period. On power plays, UW-River Falls was 1-of-6 and CSB was 1-of 2.

Senior goalie Kate Moffatt recorded 16 saves, including nine in the opening period with seven in the second period. Sophomore Delaney Norman had two saves in playing the final period.

CSB recorded 32 wins on 60 total faceoffs for 53.3 percent. The Bennies were led by senior Shauna Miller with 13 faceoff wins in 15 total while Ava Stinnett had 11 wins in 17 faceoffs. In terms of penalties, CSB was called for six for 12 minutes while UW-River Falls had two penalties for four minutes.