Box Score

RIVER FALLS, Wis. (uwrfsports.com)-The #8 UW-River Falls Women's Hockey Team (14-3-1, 6-2) battled UW-Stevens Point (11-7-2, 3-3-2), Saturday afternoon at Hunt Arena.  Chloe Kinsel scored her 20^th goal of the season and the Falcons out shot the Pointers 31-19 but fell by a final score of 2-1 in another hard fought battle against the conference rival. 
 
The Falcons came out on fire in the first period getting the better of the play for the first 4 minutes, keeping the puck in the offensive end and forcing the Pointers to ice the puck twice.  At 4:51 of the first period the Pointers finally got the puck out of their end and Rachel Reynard took a pass from Lauren Smith and skated into the slot and shot the puck past Angie Hall, to put the Pointers up 1-0. 
 
After the goal the Falcons continued to put the pressure on the Pointers in their own zone.  At 6:22 the Pointers were called for tripping and the Falcons went to their first power play of the period.  The Falcons put a few shots on net during the power play, but could not find the back of the net until Chloe Kinsel took the puck off the boards, skated into the slot and ripped a wrist shot to the back of the net to tie the score at 1.
 
The Falcons dominated puck possession for most of the period when at 15:59 of the period they went back to the power play when Point was called for checking.  The power play was shortened when Carina Randazzo was called for hooking, setting up 4 on 4 hockey.  The Falcons killed off the ensuing Pointer power play with ease, and continued to put the pressure on the rest of the period, but could not pull ahead. The first period ended with the score tied up at 1. The Falcons out shot the Pointers 11 to 7 in the period. 
 
The second period started just like the first with the Falcons in control. The Falcons spent the first 4 minutes of the period in the offensive zone, generating scoring chances, but could not break the tie. 
 
At the 8:38 mark of the period Ellie Punnett of the Pointers was called for holding, sending the Falcons to the power play. The Falcons could not get much going on their power play as the Pointer penalty killers did a good job of getting puck out of their own end. 
 
The Falcons caught a bad break 4 minutes later when one of their defensemen lost and edge and gave the Pointers a breakaway. Cara Lemirande took advantage of the Falcon misfortune and beat Angie Hall glove side to put the Pointers up 2-1. 
 
After the goal the Falcons pressured hard to get the equalizer only to have 2 consecutive penalties called on them. The first penalty was called at the 12:42 mark on Haley Nielsen for interference. The Falcon penalty killers, did a great job blocking shots in front of their goaltender, but Angie Hall made two spectacular saves to keep the Falcons down by just 1. 
 
After the first penalty was over the Falcons again put pressure on the Pointers by keeping the puck in their end and making their goalie make several saves. At the 18:36 mark of the period the Falcons were again called for interference and the Pointers went on the power play. The Falcons killed off the first part of the power play with ease and the period ended with the Falcons still down 2-1. The Falcons out shot the Pointers 10-8 in the period and 21-13 after two periods.
The Falcons began the third period on the penalty kill. 17 seconds into the period the Falcons were called for third straight interference penalty and spent the first 2:17 of the third period on the penalty kill. The Falcon defense was up to the test. With timely shot blocking and some good saves from goalie Angie Hall, the Falcons were able to keep the Pointers from scoring on the long power play. 
 
The Falcons settled in after killing the power play and the play began to look like the first and second period with the Falcons spending most of their time in the offensive end. At the 7 minute mark of the period the Pointers got a breakaway but Angie Hall made a huge sprawling save to keep the Falcons down just 1. 
 
The Falcons were sent to the power play about halfway through the period when Hailey Rock of Stevens Point was called for roughing. On the ensuing power play, the Falcons put tremendous pressure on the Stevens Point defense, generating multiple good scoring chances, but they were unable to tie the game. 
 
After the power play the Falcons continued to shoot pucks at the net and dominate puck possession. The puck very rarely got near the Falcon end the rest of the period.  With a 1:10 left in the period the Falcons pulled their goaltender for an extra attacker. 

The Falcons peppered the Point goalie for the last minute of the game, but could not find the back of the net and time expired with the final score UW-Stevens Point 2 and the Falcons 1.  The Falcons outshot the Pointers 31-19. 
 
The Falcons are back in action at Hunt Arena on Wednesday January 27^th when they host St. Thomas.  Puck drop is set for 7:05pm.