UW-River Falls 5, Yellowjackets 2

RIVER FALLS, Wis.: The Yellowjacket women's hockey team knew they had a steep hill to climb heading into Saturday's matinee at UW-River Falls.

Following Friday night's loss to the Falcons in the first game of their WIAC Semifinal playoff series, the Yellowjackets would need a win in the regulation game as well as the 20-minute mini-game in order to survive and advance to next week's conference title game. River Falls, on the other hand, needed only a tie to move onto the next round that they would host, being the tournament's No. 1 seed.

The Yellowjackets got a better all-around game than Friday night, and for all intents and purposes shut down a strong River Falls offense. But they couldn't shut down one player, as Callie Hoff accounted for three goals and that was more than the Yellowjackets could handle and they dropped Saturday's game 5-2 at W.H. Hunt Arena in River Falls.

With the loss the Yellowjackets conclude their season with a 7-18-2 record.

As the first period unfolded the Yellowjackets got off to a good start, enjoying some time in the offensive zone that led to multiple scoring chances. The best opportunity came when top scorer Kaleigh Martinson (Dayton, Minn./Champlin Park) was sprung behind the defense, but she couldn't convert the breakaway chance and the game remained scoreless. A few minutes later the Yellowjackets were able to break through, as Amber Heidenreich (Phillips, Wis./Hayward), who scored the lone goal for the Yellowjackets Friday, took a pass and pulled the puck to her backhand, sliding it past Falcon goaltender Sami Miller 1-0. Molly Shelton (Pine Island, Minn./Pine Island) and Lauren Niska (Alexandria, Minn./Alexandria Area) assisted on the goal that came at 9:02 of the opening period.

It looked like the Yellowjackets might be able to carry the lead into the first intermission, but a penalty late in the period swung the momentum to the home team.

River Falls capitalized on the power play when Hoff scored at 17:40 of the first to tie the game. The Falcons took the ensuing faceoff and took the lead just 17 seconds later on a Kathryn Larson tally.

The Yellowjackets had another strong start in the second period and at 4:30 of the period tied the game on Jenna Curtis' (Webster, Wis./Webster) unassisted goal to make it 2-2.

But the tie game wouldn't last and the Falcons would take the lead for good six minutes later. Hoff scored her second of the game at 10:39 on a power play to move River Falls ahead 3-2. Hoff would deliver a punch to the gut in the final minute of the second, completing her hat trick and giving the Falcons a 4-2 lead after 40 minutes.

In the third the Yellowjackets showed signs of life, matching the Falcons shot-for-shot, but the two-goal deficit stood. Curtis was whistled for a penalty with just over three minutes left in regulation, and the Falcons came through on the power play again. With just 1:43 to play Reilly Springman scored the third power play goal of the game for River Falls to make the final score 5-2.

Shots were more even Saturday than in the series opener. The Falcons held an edge in the game 34-19. McKenzie Whalen (East Grand Forks, Minn./East Grand Forks) got the start in goal for the Yellowjackets Saturday, and she finished the game with 29 saves.

Yellowjacket seniors Mandy Tomlinson (Waupaca, Wis./Waupaca) and Sam Westgaard (Elk River, Minn./Elk River) played the final games of their Yellowjacket careers Saturday.