EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – Despite scoring the first goal, the UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team was unable to keep up with fifth-ranked UW-River Falls and fell 4-1 to the Falcons in the regular season finale at Hobbs Ice Center this afternoon.
The Blugolds struck first, less than six minutes into the game as Paige Dale (Fr.-Andover, Minn.) scored an even-strength goal with assists from Sam Knutson (Jr.-North St. Paul, Minn.) and Mariah Czech (Fr.-Andover, Minn.).
But the Falcons answered with a goal at 13:18 and followed with another at 13:56 to get up by one goal. They never looked back after that.
In the second period, River Falls scored two more times, at 15:53 and 18:13, and the score remained 4-1 the rest of the way.
Eau Claire was outshot 42-23, with half of River Falls' shots coming in the second period. Paige Turner (So.-Iron River, Wis./Duluth East) made 38 saves, playing the entire game in-goal.
The Blugolds are now 4-19-2 overall and 0-11-1 in WIAC play while River Falls improves to 18-4-3 on the season and 8-2-2 in the conference.
Next Friday and Saturday the Blugolds will compete in the semifinals of the WIAC Championship at No. 1 seed UW-River Falls. Two games will be played and if the teams are tied following the contests, a mini-game will be used to determine which team advances to the final.
-KM-