Mankato, Minn. - On a sunny and beautiful Wednesday evening, the Vikings took on the Buena Vista Beavers for the season opener. The game ended in a 0-1 loss for the Vikings.

The first half was a battle back and forth with neither team able to pull away from the 0-0 score. Bethany gained control of the game putting together plenty of crosses in front of the net, but had problems connecting with the follow through. At 31:40, junior Kristin Renner (Victoria, Minn./Mayer Lutheran) took advantage of one of those opportunities, but the Beaver’s keeper was aggressive out of the net and the play ended in a collision.

Bethany worked aggressively with nine fouls in the first half alone. Anna Potz (White Bear Lake, Minn./Totino-Grace) had a nice opportunity with a header that went just wide. Renner had another scoring opportunity when the keeper ran out of the goal to stop the shot ending in another collision between the two.

The second half picked up intensity as Joelle Pipal (Mankato, Minn./Mankato West) took a number of hard shots that gave the Beaver’s a work out. Despite the chances, the Vikings couldn’t find the back of the net.

One freshman to watch out for is Kelli Kitzman (Osseo, Minn./Osseo), whose speed will be an asset to the team. She had a number of attempts, one of which was a header that went high. The only goal of the game was off a penalty kick taken by Buena Vista.

The Vikings play again on Saturday, September 4 at UW-Superior, game time is set for 2 p.m.