Falcon women open with sweep

• UW-River Falls goaltender Ashley Kuechle

UW-River Falls goaltender Ashley Kuechle reaches across the net to make a save with her blocker in the first period of the Falcon women’s hockey team’s 5-3 win over Adrian College Sunday afternoon at Hunt Arena. Kuechle made 22 saves to help the Falcons open the season with their second straight victory. Bob Burrows photos

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Bre Drude had two goals Saturday and former St. Croix Valley Fusion star Alice Cranston netted a pair of goals Sunday as the UW-River Falls women’s hockey team swept its season-opening series against Adrian College over last weekend, Nov. 4-6, at Hunt Arena.

The Falcons posted a 5-2 victory Friday and followed that up with a 5-3 win Sunday. The sweep avenged an overtime loss to the Bulldogs, the Falcons’ first loss of the season, in the NCHA O’Brien Cup championship game last year.

It took UW-RF just under four minutes to score its first goal of the 2011-12 campaign Saturday afternoon on a goal by senior captain Emma Nordness. Alyssa Black added a goal five minutes later and Drude and Katie Flanagan each scored before the period was over to give the Falcons a quick 4-0 lead.

After a pair of goals by Adrian cut the River Falls’ lead in half, Drude made the final 5-3 with her second goal of the game at the 14:19 mark of the third.

“For our first game, and the fact that this is Adrian’s third game, I’m very happy with our game today,” Falcon coach Joe Cranston said. “Scoring four goals in the first period and coming out strong to start was the difference in the game.”

Melissa Deardorff earned the win in net, stopping 22 shots as the Falcons had a slight 23-22 advantage in shots on goal.

In the second game of the series Sunday afternoon, Darion Bruyere gave UW-RF an early 1-0 lead but Adrian tied it with a power play goal at the 13:01 mark of the first.

Alice Cranston picked up her first collegiate point when she assisted on a goal by Black with just over two minutes remaining in the first period.

After another Adrian power play goal early in the second period, Alice Cranston gave UW-RF a 3-2 lead with a shorthanded goal at the 6:53 mark. It was the first collegiate goal for the freshman, who scored 137 goals in high school and is the St. Croix Valley Fusion’s all-time leading scorer.

Adrian tied things up again with under 1:30 remaining in the second period and the score remained 3-3 until Katie Batters found the back of the net with 3:43 remaining for the game-winner. Alice Cranston added an empty-net goal with 19 ticks on the clock to make the final 5-3.

Falcon goaltender Ashley Kuechle tallied 22 saves as the Falcons outshot the Bulldogs 30-25.

UW-RF will try to remain unbeaten when the team travels to Duluth for a two-game series with St. Scholastica this weekend.

Tags: sports, proam, falcons, hockey