Box Score

Dani Sibley scored two goals for the 5th nationally ranked UW-River Falls women's hockey team in route to a 5-1 victory over the visiting UW-Eau Claire Blugolds on Saturday afternoon at Hunt Arena.
 
The win puts the Falcons one point behind first place UW-Stevens Point in the WIAC. The Falcons can clinch first place with a win over these same Blugolds next Saturday afternoon. UW-Stevens Point holds the tie-breaker with UW-River Falls, but has no more WIAC games remaining.
 
Both teams had early close-calls in the offensive zone as Falcons senior captain forward Katie Batters and Blugolds freshman forward Mariah Czech nearly put their respective squads in front; neither chance hit the target. The first shot on goal for either team came at 5:03 of the first period, and it was rifled off the stick of junior defenseman Allie Olson.
 
The pace began to liven up as Falcons junior forward Alice Cranston, freshman defenseman Paige Johnson, sophomore forward Chloe Kinsel, and senior forward Brook Story were all denied by Blugolds sophomore goaltender Paige Turner (0-14-2).
 
A mid-first period power play resulted in an early Falcon lead as Batters slapped home a loose rebound behind a sprawling Turner. The goal came on the heels of a lengthy scrum in front of the Blugold net. Kinsel and senior captain forward Kait Mason were credited with the assists. Batters widened her team lead with her 14th goal of the season, the 65th of her career. Kinsel bumped her assist total to eight, while Mason now has 11, which ties her with Story for the team lead.
 
Falcons senior goaltender Ashley Kuechle (12-2-3) made her first save of the first period at the 10:59 mark. Turner, the former University of Minnesota-Duluth recruit, did not play like a winless goaltender in the first frame.
 
Falcons freshman forward Dani Sibley went coast-to-coast to make it 2-0 with 1:07 left in the first. Sibley flew down the right boards, walked two defenders and buried a wrist shot past Turner's right pad. Sibley's 10th goal of the season was assisted by Johnson and junior defenseman Sam Greeley. Johnson's assist was her ninth on the year, and Greeley upped her total to five.
 
First period shots on goal were 13-5, in favor of the Falcons.
 
Falcons freshman forward Jenna Ulberg and Blugolds senior forward Nikki Kothenbeutel traded scoring chances in the first five minutes of the second period, but both goaltenders were up to the task.
 
Turner made a strong save on a breakaway chance for Kinsel with just over 11 minutes left in the second period. Mason dropped a pass to Kinsel, who deked around a defender and tried to go high glove on Turner. A handful of seconds later, the Falcons slid the puck into a gaping net, but the whistle had already blown.
 
Turner had to be superhuman again with eight minutes left in the second, as she stopped multiple point-blank chances on Batters and junior forward Crysta Lowell. The Falcons registered 11 consecutive shots on goal in the middle of the period. Freshman forward Paige Dale had UW-Eau Claire's best chance of the period as she made a nice move on a Falcon defender and lifted a backhand shot on Kuechle, who was perfectly square to the shot.
 
Cranston lifted a gorgeous backhander off the crossbar and into the back of net to push the Falcon lead to 3-0 at 17:34 of the second period. She was fed cross-crease by line-mate Emily Stark; Sibley also earned an assist on the goal. The goal was Cranston's sixth, Stark's assist was her third, and Sibley's helper was number five.
 
Second period shots on goal were 18-4, in favor of UW-River Falls. Turner made 17 difficult saves in the period, while Kuechle went untested for the second straight period. Kinsel and Story led the Falcons through two periods with four shots on goal. The Falcons attempted 29 shots in the period.
 
A turnover in the neutral zone led to a Kinsel shorthanded goal to put the Falcons ahead by four. Kinsel and Mason hurried into the offensive zone on a 2-on-1 rush and Kinsel sliced a shot just inside the left post to beat Turner. Mason earned the lone assist on the goal, her team-leading 12th. Kinsel now has 11 goals in her sophomore season. The time of the goal was 1:59 of the third period. It was only the second shorthanded goal of the season for UW-River Falls. The goal came on the first shot of the period.
 
The Blugolds finally got a shot by Kuechle with 6:44 left in regulation to close the gap to three. Senior defenseman Emily Larson slapped a shot through traffic that beat Kuechle low stick side. Kothenbeutel earned the lone assist. The goal was Larson's second of the season.
 
Sibley tipped home a Johnson slap-shot with 2:59 left in the third period on a late power play to extend the lead to 5-1. The Falcons moved the puck nicely before Johnson's initial slapper from the top of the circle. Sibley's second goal of the evening was number 11 on the year. Johnson's assist was her 10th.
 
Final shots on goal were 46-14, in favor of UW-River Falls. Despite allowing five goals, Turner had a solid night for the Blugolds. The late Blugolds tally kept Kuechle from recording her seventh shutout of the season, which would have been a new school record.
 
UW-River Falls is now 16-4-3 overall, 7-2-2 in the WIAC and 7-2-3 at home. They have also won three straight and are 14-1-3 in their last 18 games. The Falcons are 38-5-8 all-time against the Blugolds, and 3-0 this season. The Falcons have outscored the Blugolds 13-1 through three games.
 
The Falcons play their last non-conference game of the season against the St. Catherine University Wildcats on Tuesday evening in St. Paul, Minn. The puck drops at 7 p.m. The Falcons are 9-2-1 in non-conference play this season.

Box Score