The Falcons jumped out to an early lead, scoring three goals in the first 15:00 on the road Saturday night in Eau Claire.
Eau Claire wound up in the sin bin early in the first period and the Falcons capitalized on the penalty. Less than a minute into the power play at 2:30,
Michelle Anez (Little Falls, MN, Alexandria HS) scored her first goal of the season with assists from
Kait Mason (Eagan, MN, Eagan HS) and
Lauren Conrad (Lino Lakes, MN, Centennial HS). Minutes later, the Falcons struck again.
Emma Nordness (Excelsior, MN, Benilde-St. Margaret's HS) and
Jessica Thompson (Shoreview, MN, Mounds View HS). assisted
Brook Story's fith goal of the season that put the Falcons up 2-0 at 6:06 into the period.
Katie Batters (Champlin, MN, Champlin Park HS) third goal of the season put the Falcons up 3-0 at 14:47 off a
Breanne Hrabe (New Prague, MN, New Prague HS) assist.The Falcons out shot Eau Claire 12-5 in the period.
The second was a 180-degree flip from the first. The Falcons ran into trouble in the second period. Eau Claire answered with two goals of their own midway through the period. A Conrad tripping penalty set up an Eau Claire power play that yielded a Blugold goal by
Nikki Kothenbeutel at 10:35, cutting the Falcon lead to 3-1. A little over a minute later, Eau Claire cut the deficit to one with a short-handed-goal from
Casey McMullen at 11:50, making it 3-2.
Like a teetor totter, the game was going up and down for both teams. The start of third period was definately up for the Falcons. They dominated the period much like they did in the first scoring three goals, but this time did it nine times as fast. They started off the period scoring three goals within the first 1:47 of the final frame.
Brook Story (Warroad, MN, Warroad HS) scored the first of the trio, her sixth of the season at 0:48 in the period and was asssisted by Thompson. Mason scored her second goal the evening and fourth of the season off a
Katie Flanagan (Roseville, MN, Roseville HS) assist at 1:33.
Jamie Briski (Chisholm, MN, Hibbing-Chisholm HS) scored the third goal of the trio, her second goal of the season, and put the Falcons up 6-2.
Emily Halusk cut into the Falcon lead with a goal at 11:17. The Falcons answered with a goal at 13:49 from
Kayleigh Bell (Stillwater, MN, Stillwater HS), her second of the season.
Bailey Vikstrom (Burnsville, MN, Burnsville HS) and goalie Ashley Kuechle (Saskatoon, SASK, Battleford Sharks) assisted on the play. Nikki Kothenbeutel made it 7-4 at 15:11 with a power-play-goal.
The Falcons out shot Eau Claire 29 to 18 in the contest. Each squad committed seven penalties for 14 minutes in the bin. The Falcons converted on 1 of 4 power plays and Eau Claire converted on 1 of 6.
Between the pipes, Kuechle stopped 14 of 18 Blugold shots for her second win of the season and is now 2-0-0.
Tomorrow, the Falcons will face off against the Blugolds again. Same team different venue. The Falcons will host Eau Claire at Hunt Arena. Action is set to get underway at 3:05 p.m.
Box Score
