By Anna Sveiven, UWEC Sports Information
RIVER FALLS, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The No. 5 University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's hockey team faced off against No. 4 UW-River Falls for the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) Championship (presented by Culver's) on Saturday, March 5th. The Blugolds would fall to the Falcons, 6-3.
In the much-anticipated rematch between the Blugolds and the Falcons, the Falcons would get the jump on the Blugolds scoring at 5:20 in the first. River Falls would continue their high pressure on Eau Claire paying off with a second goal 12:38. Blugolds would pick up the pace and Danielle Slominski (Jr.-Becker, MN/Princeton) would score on the powerplay at 15:55 with the assist coming from Samantha Scherling (Jr.-Rogers, MN/Rogers). The Blugolds would be in a one goal deficient going into the second period.
In the second the Falcons would have the Blugolds struggling to have control with two powerplay goals scored back-to-back. The first scored in just under a minute in the period at 0:41 and the second at 1:52. Eau Claire would answer back at 7:02 with a powerplay goal coming Emma Peterson (Sr.-Superior, WI/Superior) and the assist coming from Addie Young (Sr.-Superior, WI/Superior) and Emily Hart (Jr.-Red Wing, MN/Red Wing). The Blugolds would continue their momentum with Young and Peterson assisting Hanna Zavoral's (Sr.-St. Paul, MN/Highland Park) goal at 10:23. Eau Claire would go into the third down one goal at 3-4.
Eau Claire would hit the ice ready to fight in the final 20 minutes. River Falls would hit first with at goal at 1:11. The Blugolds would give everything they had to secure another goal, but the Falcons would tally their 6th goal at the 11th minute. The Blugolds would lose 3-6.
Stephanie Martin (Sr.- Yorktown, VA/Tabb) would block 20 of the 26 shots she faced and goes down to 19-4-0 in net.
Eau Claire (23-5-0) will now wait to see if their name is called for the NCAA Selection Show on Sunday, March 6th at 7:30 p.m.
Follow the Blugolds all postseason on Blugold Game Day or on our app, UWEC BLUGOLDS.