RIVER FALLS, Wis. – An early goal gave the Gustavus women’s hockey team the first lead of Wednesday’s NCAA opening round game, but UW-River Falls answered midway through the first to tie the score and tallied three unanswered goals in the third period to secure the win. The Gusties finish the season 22-4-2 overall, while the Falcons advance to the quarterfinals with a 22-5-2 record.
Gustavus’s first line forwards didn’t take long to make an impact as Molly McHugh (Fy., Minnetonka) put home her 17th goal of the season just 2:24 in the game, assisted by Kristina Press (So., Cottage Grove) and Hailey Holland (Fy., Aberdeen, S.D.).
The Falcons were able to respond with a breakaway goal at the 10:29 mark and the score remained 1-1 after the first.
Neither team was able to score in the second period as UW-River Falls applied most of the pressure, outshooting the Gusties 9-2 in the middle 20 minutes.
The Falcons killed a power play five minutes into the third period and immediately scored what proved to be the game-winner at the 14:25 mark. They added an insurance goal just over a minute later and then took advantage of an empty net with 45 seconds left in the game to secure the victory.
River Falls won the shot count 32-20 and killed off all four Gustie power plays. The Gusties also killed off all three of their penalties.
Katie McCoy (Fy., Grafton, Wis.) suffered the loss after making 28 saves.