Box Score River Falls, Wis. (uwrfsports.com)- Falcon senior
Chloe Kinsel broke the school record for career points Wednesday night as the UW-River Falls women's hockey team posted a 4-2 win over visiting Gustavus Adolphus College at Hunt Arena. Kinsel's second period goal moved her career point total to 133 points, eclipsing Kait Mason's record of 132 points set in 2013.
Defense was the star in the first period as both teams traded pairs of power plays with the goaltenders combining for 18 stops.
It took UWRF one period to figure out the Gustie defense but the Falcons exploded in the second stanza, raining down four goals as they continually got behind the defense for breakaways. Sophomore
Carly Moran opened up the scoring for the Falcons at the 1:35 mark of the period. Moran forced a turnover in the neutral zone and went in on the breakaway, beating Gustie goaltender Amanda DiNella on the glove side to find the back of the net and put the Falcons up 1-0.
Just under five minutes later, junior defenseman
Paige Johnson took a pass from teammate
Dani Kocina and blasted the puck from the point through traffic and into the back of the net as the Falcons went ahead 2-0.
Emily Stark was also credited with an assist on the goal.
Sitting on a two goal lead 12 minutes into the second period, Falcon
Karleigh Wolkerstorfer was whistled for hooking and UWRF found themselves playing a man down. While trying to kill the Gustie power play, Kinsel stripped the defense of the puck, took off on the breakaway, and slipped the puck between DiNella's legs to put the Falcons ahead 3-0. Kinsel's goal, her 14
th of the season, pushed her career point total to 133 points and notched her name at the top of UWRF's all-time points list.
The Falcons weren't done scoring yet. Freshman
Jessie Andersen put one in the net on a two-on-zero breakaway at the 18:11 mark. The goal, assisted by
Jillayne Gilbert and Johnson, gave UWRF a 4-0 lead.
The Gusties wouldn't go away quietly though, as they managed to pick up two goals in the third and final period. Katie Fuller made it 4-1 at the 8:39 mark on the power play goal and Laine Fischer added a goal at 16:07 to make the score 4-2. It wasn't enough though, as the Falcons were able to hold off the Gusties and take home the 4-2 victory. The win moves River Falls to 9-2 overall.
UW-River Falls held a 27-22 edge in shots as Falcon goaltender
Angie Hall stopped 20 shots on the evening. Gustavus Adolphus grabbed 28 faceoffs to the Falcons' 15.
UW-River Falls is back in action Friday when they travel to Gustavus Adolphus Friday evening for the second game of their series. Puck drop is set for 7 p.m. in St. Peter, Minn.
Video Highlights Courtesy of Kelsey Tyznik:
UW-River Falls Women's Hockey vs Gustavus Dec. 9, 2015
