By Anna Sveiven, UWEC Sports Information
RIVER FALLS, Wis. (Blugold.com) - The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's hockey team traveled to River Falls on Saturday night and gave the Falcons their first Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) loss of the year.
The beginning of the first period saw plenty of action on both ends of the ice but the back and forth play wouldn't last long as Courtney Wittig (Sr-Green Bay, WI/Bay Port) scored the first goal of the night at 11:40. Shortly after the goal, the Blugolds would go on the powerplay and Wittig would score again.
At 14:01, Emily Bauer (Jr-Wausau, WI/Wausau East) scored goal number three for Eau Claire. Towards the end of the period, Holly Turnbull (Sr-Hayward, WI/Hayward) would light the lamp as Eau Claire took a 4-0 lead after one period of play.
With a scoreless second period the action came from the many penalties and major saves by newcomer Sydney McKersie (Fr-Middleton, WI) that kept the 4-0 lead going into the third period.
The Falcons would score a power play goals late in the third but Wittig tallied an empty net goal to seal the win and record the hat trick.
Eau Claire (18-4-2, 7-1 WIAC) returns to Hobbs Ice Arena Saturday, February 16th for the season finale with UW – River Falls at 2 p.m. Continue to follow the action on Blugold Game Day or on the 'UWEC Blugolds' app.
