RIVER FALLS, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team fell 5-2 to No. 1-seeded and sixth-ranked UW-River Falls in the second game of the NCHA quarterfinals to end its season at Hunt Arena today.
Last night in the first game of the series, the Blugolds came up just short 5-4.
Today, River Falls jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first 10 minutes of the opening period but Blugold Tory Heller (Fr.-Cottage Grove, Minn./Hill-Murray School) responded before the end of the first period with an unassisted goal to get the Blugolds back within one goal.
The Falcons scored once in the second period and added two more in the third period to build a 5-1 advantage with less than eight minutes left.
With just over five minutes remaining in the game, Heller again found the back of the net for the Blugolds, unassisted, but that was as close as the Blugolds would get.
Paige Turner (Fr.-Iron River, Wis./Duluth East) played the entire game in-net and made 33 saves. She fell to 3-11-3 on the season.
River Falls outshot the Blugolds 38-19 on the day and was 1-for-5 on the power-play while the Blugolds were 0-for-2. Senior Emily Haluska (Stevens Point, Wis./SPASH) led the Blugolds with five shots on the day.
The Blugolds end the season with an overall record of 9-14-4. River Falls moves on to the semifinals of the 2013 NCHA O'Brien Cup Playoffs. The Falcons will host the semifinal and final rounds of the playoffs next weekend.
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