Box Score

RIVER FALLS - Four second period goals from the Falcons of UW-River Falls was too much for the Pointers to overcome, as UW-Stevens Point suffered its first loss since Dec. 13 in a 4-3 decision in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association (NCHA) men's hockey action Friday evening.

The 12th-ranked Pointers fall to 13-6-2 overall, 4-5-1 in NCHA play while UW-River Falls improves to 9-11-1 overall, 3-7-0 in NCHA play.

The Pointers struck first, as Luke Nesper (Eagle River, WI/Northland Pines) (Eagle River) tallied his eighth goal of the season at the 17:46 mark of the first period, jumping out to the 1-0 lead.

River Falls tied the game at the 4:59 mark of the second when Jamie Ruff found the back of the net to knot the game at 1-1. Nesper answered just under a minute later, again giving the Pointers a one goal advantage, 2-1.

After another River Falls goal by Ben Beaudoin at the 10:33 mark, the score was tied at two. Russell Law (Bay City, MI/Shattuck (MN)) (Bay City, Mich.) answered with his 13th goal of the season for the Pointers off a Jon Madden (Brighton, MI/Howell) (Brighton, Mich.) pass on the power play, again giving UWSP a one goal advantage, 3-2.

From there, River Falls tallied two goals in the final 5:12 of the period, as Jamie Ruff tied the game and Ben Beaudoin scored what proved to be the game-winner, as the Falcons took a 4-3 advantage at the end of the second.

In the third, the Pointers put six shots on goal, but they were all turned away by River Falls' Stephen Ritter, as the Falcons hung on for the victory.

UWSP keeper Thomas Spear (Janesville) tallied 31 saves in net for the Pointers while Ritter tallied 29 for UWRF.

The Pointers return to action on Saturday, Jan.31 when they face UW-Stout in more NCHA action starting at 7:30 p.m. in Menomonie.