Women's Hockey Beats Concordia 5-3

Posted: Feb 04, 2011

EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) - The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team pushed its unbeaten streak to nine games with a 5-3 victory over Concordia University (Wis.) at Hobbs Ice Center tonight.

Both teams have played well since the start of the new year. Eau Claire has not lost yet in 2011, holding a 7-0-2 record while Concordia came into tonight's contest with a 6-1-1 record.

The Blugolds came out strong in the first period and scored two goals within the first three minutes and four seconds. Kristin Faber (Sr.-Austin, Minn.) found the back of the net first for the Blugolds at 2:09 while Dani Kerr (So.-Little Canada, Minn./Roseville) pushed Eau Claire's lead to two with another at 3:04.

While Concordia cut the Blugolds' lead to just one goal after scoring six minutes later, Taylor Jenkins (Jr.-Austin, Minn.) answered for Eau Claire with a goal at the 11:05 mark. The scored remained 3-1 after the opening period.

Concordia was then able to tie the game up with a goal at 17:11 in the second period and another at 6:36 in the third. But the Blugolds held on as Faber scored at 9:16 to push the Blugolds' lead back to one before Nikki Kothenbeutel (Fr.-Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) scored again less than four minutes later to make the score 5-3.

Concordia fought hard and outshot the Blugolds overall 31-30. The teams shot even (10-10) in the third while Concordia held a 18-12 advantage in the second and Eau Claire had eight to the Falcons' three shots in the first.

Mara Stormer (So.-Waunakee, Wis.) stopped 28 shots and recorded the win. She is now 7-1-3 on the season.

Eau Claire is now tied for fourth place in the NCHA with Concordia. The Blugolds hold a 9-4-2 conference record while the Falcons are 9-6-2. The nine victories for Eau Claire ties a school record for most conference wins in a season. The last time the Blugolds finished with nine NCHA wins was 2007-08 when they had a 9-9-0 mark.

The Blugolds will try to sweep the Falcons tomorrow at Hobbs. Game time is set for 2 p.m. The contest will be the last regular season home game for Eau Claire.