Women's Hockey Bests River Falls In Third Period

Posted: Friday, January 14, 2005

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team scored two third-period goals within two minutes of one another, breaking a scoreless tie and catapulting the Blugolds to a 3-1 victory over the Falcons here tonight at Hobbs Ice Arena.

The win is a school-record fifth consecutive for the Blugolds who have now topped the Falcons just twice in school history in 19 meetings. The other victory was a 4-1 win earlier this season. Eau Claire moves to 8-3-1 on the year while River Falls drops to 7-8-0 overall. Tonight's game was a non-conference game.

Neither team was able to get on the board in the first two periods as Blugold goalie Jill Arendt (Fr.-Plymouth, MN/Wayzata) and Falcon goalkeeper Marlene Yaeger more than got the job done. But a flurry of third period goals left the Blugolds on the right end of a 3-1 finish.

Tara Hayner

Eau Claire first got on the board 4:58 into the third period, when Katie Vannelli (Fr.-Apple Valley, MN/Eagan) picked a great time for her first goal of the year, finding the back of the net on a slap shot from top of the circle. Martina Korinek (So.-White Bear Lake, MN) and Laura Suppes (So.-Falcon Heights, MN/Roseville) earned assists on the goal. Just 1:08 later the Blugolds struck again, as Suppes deflected a Tara Hayner (So.-Stillwater, MN) shot for a game-winning, shorthanded goal. Korinek also earned an assist on the play. The Falcons climbed back into the game midway through the period but the Blugold defense stiffened. Laura Brackey (Jr.-Oakdale, MN/Tartan) added an empty net goal to cap off the 3-1 victory.

Arendt earned the win in goal to move to 8-3-1 on the year. She stopped 22 of the 23 shots that came her way. The Falcons actually won the shot battle by a total of 29-23.The two teams will match up again tomorrow, when the Blugolds look for their sixth straight victory. This time the game will be played in River Falls at 1:05 p.m.Eau Claire-River Falls Box Score

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