RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The UW-River Falls men's hockey team fell 4-2 on Saturday evening in game two of its season-opening weekend series versus non-conference opponent Lawrence University.
The Falcons, now 1-1 overall, couldn't hold on to their second-period momentum as the Vikings opened the scoring and then sealed the win with a pair of third period goals.
After a scoreless first period, the game opened up in the second with four combined goals. Lawrence's Ethan Look broke through early in the middle frame, but the Falcons answered midway through regulation when Keenan Ingram buried a feed from Ryan Tong to even the score at 1-1, already his fourth goal in the early season after scoring a hat-trick last night. The assist was also Tong's first collegiate point in his Falcon debut.
The Vikings regained the lead moments later, yet the Falcons responded again with another collegiate first as Ben Portner scored his first of the year off assists from Luke Margenau (first of his career) and Zach Sondreal late in the period, setting the score at 2-2 at the second intermission.
Just under four minutes into the third, then sealed the victory with an insurance tally at 16:37. UWRF pulled netminder Brennan Boynton with just under three minutes left in the game, but couldn't get any more chances past Viking goaltender Nolan Mahaffey.
The Falcons outshot the Vikings 32-15 while Lawrence won the faceoffs battle, 27-22. Ingram led the Falcons with five shots on goal, followed by four from Margenau.
UWRF remains in non-conference play next weekend with a pair of road games at Hamline University and Gustavus Adolphus College.
