RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The Augsburg University women's hockey team opened its season with a 4-3 nonconference loss at three-time defending NCAA Division III national champion UW-River Falls on Thursday at Hunt Arena. The Falcons are the top-ranked team in both Division III national polls (USCHO and D-III Hockey News), while Augsburg is ranked No. 7 in both polls.
THE BASICS
FINAL SCORE: Wisconsin-River Falls 4, Augsburg 3
LOCATION: Hunt Arena, River Falls, Wis.
RECORDS: Augsburg 0-1-0 overall, UW-River Falls 3-0-0 overall
GAME RECAP
The Auggies scored once in each period and converted one of their two power-play chances, while the Falcons scored twice in each of the first two periods. The Auggies finished with 23 shots to the Falcons' 42 and killed all five Falcons power plays.
Kayla Simonson had 38 saves in goal for the Auggies.
The Auggies answered the Falcons' first goal in the first period when
Jenna Allen scored at even strength off assists from
Juliana Cahoon and
Adelyn Milota, tying the game at 1-1. Allen scored Augsburg's first goal of the season, following a rush up the ice on a deflection in front of a shot from the point by Cahoon, with Milota adding the second assist. The Falcons moved back in front on Katie Ball's even-strength goal, and the Auggies finished the period down 2-1 after killing a late
Kennedy Meier slashing penalty.
After Madison Kadrlik scored at even strength to put the Falcons ahead 3-1, the Auggies responded on the power play when
Kelsi Ries scored at the 8:09 mark of the second period, off assists from
Emma Abrahamson and
Aleksia Nesset. Ries scored on a rebound off a shot from the point by Nesset that was redirected off the crossbar by Abrahamson. The Falcons later pushed the margin back to two on Sophia Hess' unassisted even-strength goal at the 12:56 mark, and the Auggies' remaining shots from Meier,
Ella Adams,
Sidney Petterssen and
Mei Diesing were stopped. The Auggies finished the second period trailing 4-2.
Ruby Eskin gave the Auggies their third-period goal with 17:05 left, scoring at even strength off assists from Cahoon and
Annika Mielke to make it 4-3, redirecting a shot in front from Cahoon after Mielke fed Cahoon from behind the net. The Auggies kept the Falcons scoreless in the frame while defending multiple power-play chances, but could not find the tying goal before the 4-3 final.
AUGSBURG PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS
•
Juliana Cahoon: 2 assists
•
Kelsi Ries: 1 power-play goal, 1 blocked shot
•
Kayla Simonson: 38 saves
•
Ruby Eskin: 1 goal, 8 faceoff wins, 57% faceoff percentage
•
Jenna Allen: 1 goal, 1 blocked shot
UW-RIVER FALLS PLAYER HIGHLIGHTS
• Sophia Hess: 1 goal, 1 assist
• Ella Perreault: 10 faceoff wins, 100 percent on faceoffs
• Sami Pool: 1 goal
• Madison Kadrlik: 1 goal
• Katie Ball: 1 goal
UP NEXT
Augsburg hosts Aurora University (Ill.) in a nonconference game on Saturday, Nov. 10 at 2 p.m. at Ed Saugestad Rink.
