ST. CLOUD, Minn. — The College of Saint Benedict hockey team skated to a 1-1 overtime tie with Bethel on Saturday night, with the Royals scoring a 2-1 shootout decision in a Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference matchup at Ritsche Arena.

The Bennies, now 5-2-2 overall and 3-1-2 in the MIAC, sit tied for third in the league standings with St. Olaf at 12 points. The Bennies are now off until facing Wisconsin-Superior in a home-and-home nonconference series on Jan. 2-3.

First-year Bailey Vesper (South Saint Paul, Minn.) had her first-career goal to lead the offense. She scored off assists from senior Chloe Lewis (Brooklyn Park, Minn.)  and Merrill Delich (Andover, Minn.), who now has a team-high five assists. For Lewis, she had her first assist of the season and 10th of her career.

In what was a virtual repeat from last night when the teams played to a 1-1 overtime tie with CSB winning the shootout, 1-0, tonight the Bethel had the edge in the shootout with a 2-1 edge. Just like in the game at the Bethel U Arena- National Sports Center, the Bennies grabbed a 1-0 advantage tonight as Vesper had an even-handed goal at 11:58 of the opening period.

Bethel tied the game at 16:05 of the first period on Rylen Kissell's second goal of the season with Sophia Martin recording her fourth assist. After that the defenses, led by the goalies, were the story. For CSB, first-year goaltender Lexi Badali (St. John, Ind.) continued her strong debut season, recording 16 saves in 65.00 minutes on the ice. She is now 4-1-2 this season. Bethel's goalie Ashley Gustafson Hess also allowed just one goal in 65 minutes, recording 27 saves.

CSB outshot Bethel, 28-17, as the Bennies held a 12-4 advantage in the second period.   CSB won 53.1 percent of its faceoffs (26-23), led by senior Mia Lopez (Plymouth, Minn.) with 10 wins in 17 attempts.