UW-Stevens Point battled from behind all night, but fell just short of knocking off seventh-ranked UW-River Falls in a 4-3 men's hockey setback on Saturday at Willett Arena.

The Pointers scored following deficits of 1-0, 3-1 and 4-2, but were unable to get the equalizing goal in the final minute in suffering their second straight Northern Collegiate Hockey Association loss to open the season. UW-Stevens Point, ranked 12th in the NCAA Division III, is now 3-3 overall and 0-2 in the league. UW-River Falls is 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the conference.

The Falcons scored the only goal of the first period when Tyler Kostiuk got free in the slot and scored on one of the team's four first period shots. UW-Stevens Point rallied to tie the game with an unassisted goal from Taylor Guay (Boulder, CO/Boulder) at the 4:34 mark of the second period.

UW-River Falls went ahead midway through the period as Jason Usher scored on a delayed penalty on a power play. The delayed penalty was assessed and the Pointers committed another penalty just 14 seconds later, however, they were able to kill off the nearly two-minute five-on-three power play.

The Falcons thought they added another goal later in the period, but it was ruled the puck never crossed the goalline. However, Derek Hansberry won the ensuing faceoff to T.J. Dahl, who passed to Chris Robinson for a long shot that put the Falcons up 3-1 just five seconds later.

Sean Fish (Ramsey, MN/Anoka) scored for the Pointers midway through the third period, rifling a high shot off a long pass off the boards from Adam Setten (New Hope, MN/Armstrong). But again UW-River Falls had an answer as Pat Borgestad scored at the 14:33 mark to put the Falcons back ahead 4-2. Brett Beckfeld (Plymouth, MN/Armstrong) added a goal for the Pointers with 4:05 left and UW-Stevens Point had several last second chances with an extra attacker in the final minute.

Marcus Paulson (Eden Prairie, MN/Eden Prairie) made 22 saves for the Pointers and A.J. Bucchino stopped 31 saves for the Falcons as UW-Stevens Point had a 34-26 advantage in shots.