The Falcon women's hockey team returned to the win column on Saturday afternoon at Hunt Arena. After dropping game one of the two game series in overtime, UWRF got a 2-1 victory in another thrilling game against UW-Superior.
After losing Friday night, the Falcons gave up the all-time series lead to the Yellowjackets, 22-21-3, and looked to knot it back up with a win on Saturday.
Saturday featured another hard fought, low scoring game and made each team take advantage of their chances to score.
Ashley Kuechle (Saskatoon, SASK, Battleford Sharks) started in goal for the Falcons and played a solid three periods in the crease. Shanley Peters was in goal for UW-Superior again after starting in the Yellowjackets overtime victory on Friday.
The first period started with a bang for UWRF as they put the games first goal in the net just 17 seconds in.
Heather Horgen (Grand Rapids, MN, Grand Rapids HS) took control of the puck at the blue line and launched a shot that was tipped in front by Katie Batters (Champlin, MN, Champlin Park HS) and sent in to the net. The goal was Batters' fourth of the season and it gave the Falcons a very early 1-0 lead.
UW-Superior would eventually answer just over nine minutes later when Alison Shrift took a pass from Kelsey Firkus and quickly put the puck past Kuechle. The goal was Shrift's second and tied the game up at 1-1.
The second period was fast paced, but neither team could get a goal and the score remained tied at 1-1.
Going into the third period, the Falcons had five unsuccessful powerplay chances after converting on one of three on Friday night.
At 12:53 in the third period, the Falcons got what would be their final powerplay chance of the game and took advantage of it.
Allie Olson (Monticello, MN, North Wright County HS) took a feed from Emma Nordness (Excelsior, MN, Benilde-St. Margaret's HS) and found Alyssa Jackson (Cambridge, MN, Cambridge-Isanti HS) who put the go ahead goal past Peters. The goal was Jackson's second of the year and it gave the Falcons a 2-1 lead with just over seven minutes to play.
The Falcons did a great job of playing conservatively and not giving up a powerplay in the final minutes of the game. There were several times that the Falcon defense dove to block shots and did a great job keeping the puck away from Kuechle to seal the 2-1 victory.
“Superior played very hard again today but we were able to win more of the little battles and that helped us to the win,” said Falcon Coach Joe Cranston after the game.
“Alyssa Jackson got a big powerplay goal for us and that proved to be the game winner. She also blocked a couple of shots at the end of the game – she had a great game.”
“We played with some urgency today and it showed.”
The Falcons finished with 37 shots on goal and the Yellowjackets recorded 26 total shots.
Kuechle stopped 25 and improves her record to 4-0 this season. Peters stopped 35 for UW-Superior, but falls to 2-2-1 for the season.
Jackson, Olson, and Alice Cranston (River Falls, WI, St. Croix Valley HS) all had five shots on goal for UWRF. Darion Bruyere had three shots.
With the win, UWRF improves to 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the NCHA. Superior falls to 4-3-2 overall and 3-2-1 in the NCHA.
The all-time series record between the two teams remains deadlocked after this weekend at 22-22-3.
The Falcons will now travel to St. Peter, MN where they will take on Gustavus on Tuesday, December 6th at 7 p.m.
Box Score
