River Falls 4, Yellowjackets 1

RIVER FALLS, Wis.: The Yellowjacket women's hockey team knew it faced a difficult task in the first round of the WIAC Playoffs, when they drew league champion UW-River Falls in the tournament's opening round. The Falcons, a perennial powerhouse in NCAA Division III, have had a monopoly on the WIAC championship, having won every regular season conference championship since the UW schools split off from the old NCHA.

The Falcons have been ranked in the top ten nationally throughout the 2018-19 season, and Friday night they played that way.

River Falls scored early and jumped out to a big lead after two periods on the way to a 4-1 win over the Yellowjackets at W.H. Hunt Arena in River Falls Friday night.

The loss means the Yellowjackets have their collective back against the wall heading into game two Saturday. The Yellowjackets must win the game to force a mini-game and potentially save their season. A tie or a loss means the campaign comes to an end.

River Falls got the scoring started early when Erin Olson found the back of the net just 1:38 into the game to put River Falls ahead 1-0. Midway through the opening period the Falcons stretched the lead when Bella Wagner scored on a power play to make it 2-0. Olson scored her second of the game 5:09 into the second period to push the lead to 3-0, and just past the mid point of the second it went to 4-0 on a Kora Torkelson goal.

The Yellowjackets finally broke through late in the second period. Amber Heidenreich (Phillips, Wis./Hayward) scored an unassisted goal with 2:30 to play to get the Yellowjackets on the board and close the gap to three, 4-1.

That's as close as the Yellowjackets would get, however. Neither team registered a goal in the final frame and River Falls picked up the win in the series opener.

Catherine Johnson (Lakeville, Minn./St. Paul Academy) got the start in goal for the Yellowjackets and finished the game with 29 saves.