SUPERIOR, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Down 4-1 with less than two minutes remaining, the UW-Eau Claire women's hockey made a late push but its comeback fell just short as the Blugolds fell 4-3 to ninth-ranked UW-Superior at Wessman Arena this afternoon.

Superior scored two goals in the opening period but the Blugolds responded with a goal at 3:21 in the second period to make the score 2-1. Sam Knutson (Fr.-North St. Paul, Minn.) found the back of the net on a power-play for Eau Claire with an assist from Casey McMullen (Jr.-Minneapolis, Minn./South).

But the Yellowjackets scored two goals again, one in the second period and another just 38 seconds into the third period to take a 4-1 lead.

The Blugolds didn't give up and Katie Ward (Jr.-Andover, Minn./Coon Rapids) scored for Eau Claire at 18:09 in the final period while McMullen responded with another goal less than a minute later to get the Blugolds within one (4-3). But over the final 56 seconds, Superior held on to its one-goal lead to secure the win.

Eau Claire held a big advantage on the shot chart with 34 shots to 16 for Superior. In the third period, the Blugolds finished with 11 shots to just three for Superior.

Morgan Pieper (Sr.-Williams, Minn./Warroad) played all but the final 37 seconds in the Blugold net and stopped 12 shots.

The teams finished the weekend series with a split as the Blugolds won Friday night's contest. Eau Claire is now 7-12-4 overall and 6-9-3 in the NCHA. Superior improves to 14-6-3 on the season and 12-4-2 in conference play.

The Blugolds will wrap up the regular season next weekend at home with a two-game series against Finlandia University (Mich.). The first game is set for Friday at 7 p.m.

-KM-