The Northland College LumberJill hockey team scored four goals in the first game of their inaugural season, but that was not quite enough as they dropped the game 7-4 to the College of Saint Benedict. The LumberJills first road trip started off great with a sendoff from faculty, staff, students and fans.
 
The Blazers jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, but then the Jills settled in and went to work. In the second period the first ever Northland goal was scored by Allyson Reilly from St. Paul, Minnesota. The Blazers were able to find the back of the net two more times in the period, including one power play goal to make the score 5-1 heading into the third period.
 
Northland gave up a shorthanded goal to start the third and then the Blazers added another to make it 7-1. Then the LumberJills went on a run and scored three unanswered goals, Robyn Matula scored her first goal on an even strength breakaway. Michaela Isetts-Williams would score with assists from Kylie Wickiser and Ashley Hammes on a power play.  In the final goal of the game, Destiny Muir added to the Jills total with an assist from Isetts-Williams, also a power play goal.  The LumberJills outscored the Blazers 3-2 in the final period but would come up short losing 7-4.  Chloe Marshall had a great game in the net for the Jills with 50 saves on the night.
 
Head Coach, Kelly Rider commented that, "Today was day our entire program has been waiting for, for a long time. We had 17 players play in their first NCAA DIII game and they came out and played with passion and selflessness. As a staff we were very pleased with their growth and resiliency throughout the game. We are all looking forward to tomorrow." Rider also commented that, "it was impressive that our team was able to put up 4 goals in our first ever game, with just one week of practice under our belt. We still have a lot of work to do, but there were many positives from today's game to take into tomorrow."
 
The Jills will look to use the momentum from the final period as they face off against the Blazers again Saturday at 3:00pm.