The University of Wisconsin Superior could not slow the high-powered offense of the no. 2-ranked University of Wisconsin River Falls as the two teams began their Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference series with the Falcons taking game one 6-0 on Friday night in River Falls, Wisconsin.
UW-River Falls (20-1-0, 5-1-0 WIAC) opened the scoring at 8:07 of the first period with Bella Wagner scoring assisted by Dani Sibley and Jessie Anderson. The Falcons would maintain the one-goal lead over UW-Superior (7-12-0, 1-6-0 WIAC) until the intermission, holding a 15-7 lead in shots on goal after the first with senior
Sky Brown (Lenore, Man./Virden Collegiate Institute) making keeping the door shut through the final 12 minutes of the period. While Brown finished with 39
saves on the day, River Falls would add on to its lead in the second. Just after the end of a Yellowjacket powerplay, Jillayne Gilbert returned from the penalty box to put the Falcons up by two, scoring with an assist by Payton Rudiger at 11:16. Just about four minutes later, UWRF would score again, with Carly Moran adding her 16th of the season after nearly scoring earlier in the game on a goal called off in the closing moments of the opening period. Paige Johnson and Haley Nielsen added the assists.
The Falcons began the third period on the powerplay and quickly made good while taking a 4-0 lead at 0:35 of the period. UW-River Falls continued to add to its lead, scoring twice more with the skater advantage in the third, getting goals from Lydia Wagner at 13:10 and Hailey Herdine at 16:05 of the period. The Falcons finished 3-for-4 on the powerplay, while UW-Superior finished scoreless in its three chances. Freshman
Kaleigh Martinson (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park H.S.) and juniors
Emily Heid (Elk River, Minn./Elk River H.S.), and
Mikayla Goodin (Andover, Minn./Andover H.S.) led the Yellowjackets with three shots on goal each.
UP NEXT
UW-Superior will look to get back on track Saturday as the two teams travel back to Superior for game two of the series. Opening puck drop is set for 2:00 p.m. at Wessman Arena.
