The Falcon women's hockey team swept their second series of the season by beating the St. Scholastica Saints 5-2 on Saturday afternoon. The win extends the Falcons opening season winning streak to four in a row.
Saturday's game was game two of a weekend series between the Falcons and the Saints. Game one saw the Falcons outshoot the Saints 35-23 and UWRF took a 6-2 win. Freshman Allie Olson (Monticello, MN, North Wright County HS) led the way with two goals and fellow freshman Alice Cranston (River Falls, WI, St. Croix Valley HS) added a goal of her own.
After a slow first period in Friday night's game the Falcons came out quick and opened the game with three first period goals.
Olson extended her hot streak by scoring her first of two on the night early in the first period. She put one past Saint goalie Sheridan Friesen unassisted to give the Falcons an early 1-0 lead.
The Falcon lead would not last long, however, as Monika Waidacher took a pass from Nina Waidacher and set a shot past Falcon goalie Ashley Kuechle (Saskatoon, SASK, Battleford Sharks) to tie the game up 1-1.
Just nine second later, Lauren Schweppe (Centerville, MN, Centennial HS) assisted Alyssa Jackson (Cambridge, MN, Cambridge-Isanti HS) who got the puck into the net behind Friesen to put the Falcons up 2-1. The goal was Jackson's first of the year and Schweppe was credited with her first collegiate point.
The Falcons then added another tally to the scoreboard when Brook Story (Warroad, MN, Warroad HS) took a pass from Katie Batters (Champlin, MN, Champlin Park HS) and beat Friesen for her first goal of the season. The goal put the Falcons up 3-1 going in to the second period.
The Saints came out with a fierce offensive attack in the first period as they shot 13 times. The Falcons shot the puck five times. Kuechle was outstanding in the period as she recorded 12 saves.
The second period started with a quick goal by St. Scholastica just three minutes in. Nina Waidacher took a feed from Kaitlin Johnson and pulled the Saints within one goal making the score 3-2.
Late in the second peiod, at 17:40, Olson scored her second goal of the game on an assist by Jami Weiss (Hermantown, MN, Proctor-Hermantown HS) to give UWRF a 4-2 lead. Olson's goal was her fourth in two games and she now has two consecutive two-goal games.
The Falcons took control of the puck in the second period as they fired 11 shots on goal. The Saints shot the puck six times in the period.
The third period was controlled by the Falcons as they fired 18 shots on net and scored one more to finish off the weekend sweep in Duluth.
Three minutes into the period Jackson would net her second goal of the game with an assist by Cranston to put the Falcons up 5-2 and secure the afternoon win. The goal was the Falcon's first power play goal of the season. They were 0-3 in the game before Jackson's goal and 0-17 going into the game.
The Falcons outshot the Saints 34-29 overall in the game. Kuechle recorded 27 saves in the win and improves to 2-0 on the season. Saint goalie Friesen had 29 saves in the loss.
“They came out hard, but we played good toward end of game and shut them down,” said Coach Joe Cranston. “They outshot us and outplayed us early and four points on the road against a pretty good team is good to see.”
Falcon freshman registered four points in Saturday's win and five in Friday's win. Overall the Falcon freshman class has 16 points this season.
The Falcons extend their early season unbeaten record to 4-0. St. Scholastica drops to 2-2 after the loss.
The Falcons will now travel to Steven's Point for a two game series against the Pointers next weekend. Game one is on Friday, November 18th at 7 p.m. and game two is on Saturday, November 19th at 2:30 p.m.
Box Score
