EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team lost a tough battle in its conference opener against the College of St. Scholastica 4-3 Saturday afternoon at Hobbs Ice Center.

Emily Haluska (Jr. – Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) had a day for the Blugolds, coming out right away scoring the first goal of the game on a pass from Abbie Hawthorne (Jr.-Brookfield, Wis./Central).  The Saints would not let the lead last long however, and counterbalanced with a goal two minutes later to tie the game up at 1-1 in the first period.   As the buzzer rang and the players headed to the locker room for the end of the first period the game was tied at 1-1. 

The Saints came out fired up for the second period and started it off scoring the first goal, a power play goal, putting them ahead of the Blugolds 2-1.  Defender Katie Ward (Jr.-Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) fired back to tie it up with an unassisted goal on a shot that was deflected off the defender and found the top corner of the net.  The battle continued on the ice and St. Scholastica came back again in the bottom half of the period to bring the Saints ahead.

Going into the third period of the game, Eau Claire was down by one goal when Haluska found the top corner of the net for the second time of the game, to again tie the game up at 3-3.  Both teams fought back and forth holding each other off until the fifteenth minute when St. Scholastica forwad Michelle Fischer scored and put the Saints on top yet again.  The Blugolds however did not have enough fuel in the tank to tie it up again and ended up taking the loss 3-4.

Morgan Pieper (Sr.-Williams, Minn./Warroad) took the loss for the Blugolds and dropped to 0-1-1 as she gave up four goals in 58:51 minutes of play.   She had 34 saves on the night. 

The Blugolds return to action tomorrow to face the Saints again.  The puck will drop at 2 p.m. at the Hobbs Ice Center.

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