Curtain rises on women's hockey

Loss can't damper opening night festivities

By Ryan Brinks

After a special ceremony christened the Falcons' inaugural hockey event on Friday night, the UW-River Falls women took the ice for their first-ever weekend of varsity competition, and they succeeded in scoring against one of the region's top-ranked squads.

Facing off against Gustavus Adolphus in a pair of contests destined to test UW-RF in every area, a duo of Falcon goaltenders fought through 87 shots as the Gusties took the home-and-home series 9-1, 7-1.

"I think a lot of the first game was just pretty much getting used to how we're going to play," freshman goaltender Stephanie Seiler noted.

Seiler manned the crease for the Falcons on Friday night at Hunt Arena, but it was all she could do to grab 37 shots as Michelle Zaske's hat-trick led the Gusties as they scored four goals in each of the first two periods and another one in the third.

"I think we were caught watching Gustavus," coach Joe Cranston said of the first two periods. "We were a little star-struck at how good of a team they were."

The Falcons only managed to muster nine shots on goal the entire game, but they found success late in the second period when junior center Susie Misheski broke away unassisted and slid the puck past the Gusties' goalie to give the Falcons their history-making first goal.

"At first, I really didn't think too much about it, because it didn't really have an impact on the score," Misheski said. "But I know that when I'm older and I look back on it, it'll be special."

The Falcons finished with just that one goal, but the experience they received was probably worth much more. "It kind of got rid of our nerves," Seiler said after the game.

Attendance at Hunt Arena for the inaugural game peaked at 309, almost four times as many spectators as the Falcons would find awaiting them on the Gusties' ice Saturday.

Like the previous night, the Gusties again jumped out to a quick lead, accumulating another four goals in the first period, this time against Falcon goalie Sara Hagestad. But then, at the start of the second period, the momentum changed rather dramatically.

With a power play carrying over from the end of the first period, Misheski won the face-off and dropped the puck back to junior defenseman Hattie Hoff. Hoff then passed it to sophomore forward Jody LaMotte on the side. LaMotte was still outside the circle when she made her decision.

"I knew I had to take a shot," LaMotte said, adding she hoped teammate Mandy Stokes would get a chance at the rebound. LaMotte was stunned when her shot went in.

"The excitement of the goal was worth the six weeks of preparing for the season," LaMotte said.

After that, Hagestad repelled 24 of 27 shots as the Falcons kept the final two periods close, 2-1 and 1-0.

"We played much better in the second and third periods," Cranston said. "We started moving our feet better, and we were a lot more aggressive."

And so the Falcons came away from the 7-1 loss with improvement already in progress.

Sitting at 0-2 on the season, the Falcons will look for their first-ever win against St. Catherine's at 7:05 p.m. at Hunt Arena on Wednesday. This weekend the Falcons play a home-and-home series with St. Benedict's. Friday's game is away at 7:30 p.m. while Saturday's contest is at Hunt Arena and starts at 3:05 p.m.

In the final words of Seiler, "We'll get better."