By Nick Hoven, UWEC Sports Information
River Falls, Wis. (Blugolds.com) – The University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire women's hockey team concluded their 2019-20 regular season campaign on Saturday as they traveled to UW-River Falls to take on the #7 ranked Falcons. After recording the game's first goal, the Blugolds gave up two unanswered goals and an empty net tally in a 3-1 defeat.
The Blugolds would once again start the game aggressive by outshooting the Falcons and scoring first. Elizabeth Bauer (Sr. – Wausau, WI/East) would tally the first Blugold goal to give Eau Claire some headwind. Danielle Slominski (Fr. – Becker, MN/Princeton) and Addie Young (So. - Superior, WI) would both get credit wth assists on the play.
The following two periods would not go as scripted for the Blugolds. The Falcons would get their first goal at the 6-minute mark of the middle frame to make it 1-1. Eau Claire would get called for the game's first penalty late in the second as physicality would escalate on both sides. The Blugolds were perfect on the penalty kill throughout the game successfully defending all three powerplay opportunities the Falcons had.
River Falls would break the tie with a little over 8 minutes remaining in the game and would add an empty net goal to hand the Blugolds just their third loss of the season.
Goaltender Erin Connolly (Sr. – Mequon, WI/Homestead) stopped all 22 of the 25 shots she faced in just her second regular season loss. She finished the regular season with a 18-2-2 record.
The Blugolds will begin WIAC Championship tournament play on February 28th and 29th at Hobbs Ice Center. The Blugolds earned themselves the 1st seed and will play the winner of the 4th seeded UW-Stevens Point Pointers and the #5 seeded Norhtland College Lumberjills.
Follow the Blugolds all season long on Blugold Game Day or on the 'UWEC Blugolds' app from your mobile device.
