Falcon women skate to split with Superior

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UW-River Falls’ Alyssa Jackson (15) watches her shot sail just under the glove of UW-Superior goalie Melissa Kunzelman and into the net to tie the score, 2-2, midway through the third period Friday afternoon at Hunt Arena. The Yellowjackets scored a power play goal with just under a minute remaining to pull out a 3-2 win, but the Falcons bounced back to split the weekend series with a 4-2 victory Saturday. Bob Burrows photo

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The UW-River Falls women’s hockey team opened its NCHA season with a weekend split against UW-Superior.

The Yellowjackets scored a power play goal with just under a minute remaining to escape with a 3-2 victory Friday afternoon before the Falcons scored two third period goals to post a 4-2 win Saturday.

The Falcons, 4-1-1 overall and 1-1-0 in the NCHA, were ranked No. 5 in last week’s USCHO.com poll. They will host St. Olaf in a nonconference game Tuesday night at 7:05 p.m.

Friday afternoon against Superior, the Yellowjackets jumped out to a 2-0 lead before the Falcons cut the gap in half with a goal by Amanda Ryder midway through the second period. Laura Conrad and Katie Flanagan assisted on the play.

The Falcons tied up the contest with a power-play goal from Alyssa Jackson, her first of the season at the 8:19 mark of the third with Ashly Berner and Jamie Briski assisting.

But with under a minute to go in regulation, Superior sealed the deal with the game winner at 19:01 off the stick of Kim Schmeichel.

The Falcons narrowly outshot Superior 24-19. Falcon goaltender Cassi Campbell stopped 16 of 19 shots.

Conrad’s goal and two assists helped the Falcons to a 4-2 win Saturday afternoon and a split of the two-game series.

For the second game in the row, the Falcons had to work out of a 1-0 deficit after Superior jumped out to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. Minutes later a Superior penalty set up a Falcon power play and Briski knocked in her fourth goal of the season with assists coming from Jackson and Bell at 15:28.

In the second, Brittany Erickson’s first goal of the season put the Falcons back on top 2-1 at the 14:48 mark of the period. Heather Horgen and Conrad assisted on the play.

Play was suspended for roughly 20 minutes after a scary collision in the Falcon offensive zone with just 13 seconds to play in the second period. Falcon Amanda Ryder was carted off the ice on a stretcher.

A Falcon holding penalty in the third resulted in a Yellowjacket power play and goal at 12:37. But the Falcons answered with a power play goal by Berner at 14:21 that proved to be the game winner. Assists were awarded to Conrad and Bell.

Conrad put the final nail in the coffin with an empty net goal with 35 seconds remaining.

Melissa Deardorff stopped 18 of 20 shots for the Falcons to post her third win of the season. The Falcons outshot the Yellowjackets 22-20.

Tags: womens hockey, uw river falls, sports, falcons, superior