STEVENS POINT, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Down by three goals, the UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team came from behind to tie the seventh-ranked Pointers, but a goal 42 seconds into overtime by UW-Stevens Point handed the Blugolds a 4-3 loss at Ice Hawks Arena tonight.
The Blugolds gave up two goals in the opening period and the Pointers scored another within the first three minutes in the second period to lead Eau Claire 3-0.
Just over 12 minutes into the second period, Katie Burkey (Fr.-Ramsey, Minn./Anoka) scored her first collegiate goal to get the Blugolds back to within two goals. Hadley Cookson (So.-Shorewood, Minn./Minnetonka) and Emily Larson (Sr.-Bemidji, Minn.) picked up assists on the Blugolds' first goal.
In the third period, Cookson came up big for Eau Claire, scoring two more times to tie the game 3-3. Assisted by Nikki Kothenbeutel (Sr.-Sauk Rapids, Minn./Sauk Rapids-Rice) on a power-play four minutes into the third, Cookson scored her fourth goal of the year. Cookson then scored at 17:03, unassisted, to tie the game.
But just 42 seconds into overtime, UW-Stevens Point's Shauna Bollinger scored a short-handed goal to give the Pointers their eighth win of the season.
Paige Turner (So.-Iron River, Wis./Duluth East) was busy in-goal tonight, stopping 42 out of 46 Pointer shots. Eau Claire finished with 18 shots on the night, 10 of which came in the third period.
The Blugolds finished the night 1-for-6 on power-plays while the Pointers were 0-for-4.
Eau Claire is now 1-6-2 overall and 0-4-1 in the WIAC while Stevens Point improves to 8-1-1 overall and 4-1-0 in conference play.
Saturday the two teams will play again, this time at Hobbs Ice Center in Eau Claire. The puck is set to drop at 7 p.m.
-KM-