ST. PAUL, Minn. – The MSOE Women's Hockey team opened their 2025-25 season on the road against the Royals of Bethel University on Friday night.  The Raiders would fall to the Royals after a scoring frenzy in the third period propelled Bethel past the Red and White.

FINAL SCORE
MSOE RAIDERS – 2
Bethel University Royals - 4

HOW IT HAPPENED

• MSOE (0-1-0, 0-0-0 NCHA) held off an early offensive frenzy from Bethel (1-0-0, 0-0-0 MIAC) as goalie Alexa Novak recorded three saves in the first three minutes, before a tripping penalty against the Royals sent the Raiders to the power play.  After an unsuccessful turn on the powerplay, the Raiders would once again fend off a flurry of shots from the Royals, with Bethel recording the first goal of the game at the 13:49 mark.  The Red and White penalty kill would smother a Bethel powerplay in the waning moments of the first period with the opposition holding a 1-0 lead to the first intermission.
• Coming into the second period, the Raiders would see a couple of early shots from Sara Kopf and Lexi Jackson turned away by Bethel, before freshman Gabi Heuser scored her first career goal and the first of the Raiders season to tie things up at 1-1.  The Red and White would stifle another Bethel powerplay as they reached the midway point of the contest, with the Royals teeing up shot after shot.  Novak would continue to stand tall, while Darby Boughan recorded multiple blocked shots as the Red and White went to the second intermission deadlocked 1-1 with Bethel.
• In the third period, Bethel would break through with a goal at the 5:35 mark to take a 2-1 lead on the Raiders, before upping their lead to 3-1 a mere 32 seconds later.  The Raiders would not go quietly, as Emily Reiner found the back of the net for the first time in her career and brought the Raiders back within a goal just 40 seconds later.  After the strecth that saw both teams combining for three goals in a 72 second span, the Royals continued to pressure the Raider defense, piling up shots as the clock showed less than ten minutes to play in St. Paul.  The Royals would add one more goal with just under five minutes to play, halting the Raiders comeback as they fell 4-2 to open the season.

MSOE STAT TRACKER
Shots – Emily Reiner (3)
Goals – Gabi Heuser and Emily Reiner (1)
Assists – Emily Reiner (1)
Saves – Alexa Novak (45)

WHO'S ON DECK
The Raiders will close out their series with the Royals tomorrow, November 1^st in St. Paul, Minnesota.  Game time is set for 2:00 P.M.

For up-to-the-minute MSOE Raiders news, visit us at www.MSOERaiders.com. You can also follow the Red & White on Twitter @MSOE_Raiders and @msoe_raiders on Instagram.