RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The top-ranked UW-River Falls women's hockey team defeated No. 12-ranked UW-Eau Claire 9-0 Saturday afternoon at Hunt Arena during the regular season finale and Senior Day.
The Falcons finish the regular season with a 20-3-2 overall record and 11-0-1 WIAC ledger, and will host the winner of #5 Northland/#4 UW-Superior next weekend in the WIAC Tournament Semifinals. The Falcons clinched the WIAC regular season title and the No. 1 seed for the WIAC O'Brien Cup last Saturday, Feb. 15 with a 9-3 win over UW-Stevens Point, and finish with an undefeated conference record for the second consecutive season and third time in program history.
UWRF scored nine goals for the third game in a row and second time against UW-Eau Claire, sweeping the Blugolds with a trio of wins in the season series, which includes a pair of shutouts. The Falcons scored a pair of power play goals and were paced by multi-goal efforts from
Bailey Olson,
Megan Goodreau, and
Alexa Niccum.
Goals from Goodreau and
Madison Kadrlik gave the home team a two-goal lead through 20 minutes before the Falcons came out of the first break on fire. The Falcons held the Blugolds to just four shots on net in the second period while pouring on the offense, scoring six goals to put the game out of reach.
Goodreau scored her second of the game while Olson and A. Niccum both scored twice and
Kylie Jones added another, leading the Falcons to an 8-0 lead just under 14 minutes into the middle frame. Kailtlyn Ronn added on to the lead in the third period while the Falcons and goaltender
Jordan O'Kane maintained the shutout throughout the final 20 minutes.
O'Kane finished with 23 saves to earn her second shutout of the season and 13th win.
Ellie Brice, on Senior Day, led the Falcons with four assists, a career-high. Brice and her classmates
Allisen Carothers,
Kenzie Dunn,
Bailey Olson, and
Brooke Lemke were honored pregame for their contribution to the program. Since the 2021-22 season, their class has led the Falcons to 102 victories.
