Women's Ice Hockey

UW-River Falls Wins Sixth Straight Women’s Ice Hockey Championship

**UW-River Falls Sports Information contributed to this recap

EAU CLAIRE, Wis.--University of Wisconsin-River Falls won its sixth straight Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) women’s ice hockey regular-season title with a 6-3 victory over UW-Eau Claire at Hobbs Ice Arena on Feb. 21.
 
It is the 12th championship in program history for the Falcons, who secured the No. 1 seed for the WIAC Tournament/O’Brien Cup (presented by Culver’s) that begins with semifinal series Feb. 27-28. UW-River Falls (24-1 overall, 11-1 WIAC/33 pts.) will host No. 4 seed UW-Superior (4-20-1, 4-8/13), while No. 2 seed UW-Eau Claire (18-7, 10-2/30) will host No. 3 seed UW-Stevens Point (11-14, 5-7/14). The semifinal winners will advance to the championship game at the highest remaining seed on March 7.
 
Against UW-Eau Claire, Megan Goodreau tallied three points with a goal and two assists, passing Callie Hoff to become the program’s all-time leading scorer with 198 career points. Hoff, the 2022 Laura Hurd National Player of the Year, totaled 197 points from 2017-22.
 
After a scoreless first period, the Falcons broke through midway through the second. Katherine Bell opened the scoring at 7:09, finishing off the rush with assists from Kailey Niccum and Brooklyn Riley. Just under four minutes later, Sophia Hess converted on the power play off assists from Riley and Goodreau to extend the lead to 2-0.
 
Kylie Jones added an even-strength goal at 12:55, finishing a great pass from Addie Seleski to push the margin to three. The Blugolds responded late in the period with goals from Jana Lesch and Maddie Hulter to cut the deficit to 3-2 heading into the second intermission.
 
The Falcons answered quickly in the third period. MaKenna Aure scored on the power play just 38 seconds into the frame, and Goodreau followed at 2:22 with an even-strength tally to give the Falcons a 5-2 advantage.
 
UW-Eau Claire drew within two at 8:00 of the third on a goal from Nora Carstensen, but UW-River Falls sealed the win with an empty-net goal from Madison Kadrlik.
 
The Falcons outshot the Blugolds 41-18 for the game and finished 2-for-4 on the power play. Jordan O’Kane earned the win in goal, stopping 15 of 18 shots to move to 20-1 on the season.
 
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