EAU CLAIRE, Wis. (blugolds.com) – The No. 10 ranked University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's hockey team hosted their final game before the winter break on Saturday. UW-Eau Claire and Concordia-Moorhead College faced off in game two of the weekend series after UWEC took the 4-2 victory the night before. Six different Blugolds found the back of the net as UWEC completed the series sweep with an 8-0 win.
UW-Eau Claire found their rhythm early as Sophie Rausch (Sr. – Fergus Falls, Minn.) ripped her 16th goal of the season into the top corner of the net to give UWEC a 1-0 lead. Emily Hart (Sr. – Red Wing, Minn.) and Hallie Sheridan (Sr. – Fergus Falls, Minn.) received assists on the Blugolds opening tally.
Jordyn McAlpine (Sr. – Stillwater, Minn/Mahtomedi) extended the Blugold lead two minutes later with a blast from the point beating the Concordia netminder between the legs to make it 2-0, UWEC. Keira Bolt (Fr. – Boise, Idaho) earned the lone tally on McAlpine's first goal of the season. The 2-0 lead lasted for the duration of the opening period as UW-Eau Claire kept the Cobbers to two shots in the first 20 minutes of play.
In the second, Sophie Rausch found her second goal of the afternoon to make it 3-0 in favor of Eau Claire. Sami Scherling (Sr. – Rogers, Minn.) and Hallie Sheridan received assists on the Blugolds' third goal if the afternoon. Emily Hart doubled her point total on the day just minutes later to extend the Eau Claire lead to 4-0 with her first goal of the season. Through two periods of play, the Eau Claire offensive pressure kept its consistency as the home squad outshot Concordia 27 to 4 in the first 40 minutes of play.
The third period started heavily favored for Eau Claire as Ellie Anderson (So. – Fergus Falls, Minn.) found the back of the net 35 seconds into the frame on a shot from the slot. Anderson's second career goal and second of the season was assisted by Sam Bandholz (So. – Richfield, Wis./Slinger) and Taylar Meier (Jr. – River Falls, Wis./Columbine) Later in the period, Eden Gruber (Jr. – Wausau, Wis./West) netted back-to-back goals at the 10:55 and 15:20 marks to extend the Blugold lead to 7-0. Gruber's second tally of the afternoon was the lone powerplay strike of the contest as UWEC went 1 for 4 on the player advantage. The Eau Claire penalty kill stayed perfect on the weekend as they shut down Concordia-Moorhead's two power play opportunities. With less than 30 seconds left, Sydney Johnson (Jr. – Apple Valley, Minn.) found the final goal of the weekend series to give Eau Claire their 8-0 shutout victory.
Josie Mathison (Jr. – Tomah, Wis.) stopped all seven shots she faced to earn her first win and first shutout of the season. Mathison is now 1-1-0 on the year.
The Blugolds (9-2, WIAC 3-1) will take the rest of December off as they hit the winter break with finals week and the holiday season. UWEC will be back in action on Friday, January 6th, 2023, as they hit the road to face off with St. Norbert College. Puck drop is scheduled for 7PM at the Cornerstone Community Center in De Pere, Wis.
Follow the Blugolds all season long at Blugold Game Day or on our app, UWEC Blugolds.
