STEVENS POINT, Wis. – For the third time this season, the No. 9 UW-Stevens Point women's hockey team and No. 7/8 UW-River Falls finished with a 3-2 score but the Falcons came out on the winning end in a matchup of the top two teams in the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) on Friday night at Ice Hawks Arena.
Box Score Dani Sibley scored a pair of second-period goals for UW-River Falls (14-3-0, 6-1-0 WIAC) to give the visitors a 3-1 lead.
Megan Menotti (Vernon Hills, IL/Chicago Mission) scored at 7:38 of the third period to get UW-Stevens Point (12-6-1, 3-3-1 WIAC) within a goal but the Pointers could not find a winning goal.
All three of the games between UWSP and UWRF this season have been decided by 3-2 scores with the Falcons taking two of the three. The loss was the first home defeat of the season for UW-Stevens Point (7-1-0).
With the score knotted at 1-1 after the first period, Sibley scored on the power play at 10:09 of the second period before adding an even-strength goal just under six minutes later.
Menotti's third-period goal was her seventh of the season and was assisted by
Meredith Ingbretson (Hayward, WI/Hayward) and
Lexi Englund (White Bear Lake, MN/White Bear Lake). The assist was Ingbretson's ninth point in the last nine games.
Chloe Kinsel, the WIAC's leading scorer, opened the scoring just 31 seconds into the game for the Falcons but the Pointers fought back behind an unassisted goal by
Rachel Reynard (Hortonville, WI/Hortonville) at 13:59 of the opening period. Reynard scored for the second consecutive game and recorded her eighth point in seven games.
UW-River Falls outshot UW-Stevens Point 37-23 in the game and got 21 saves from Angie Hall in the win.
Janna Beilke-Skoug (Madison, WI/East) stopped 34 shots for the Pointers despite taking the loss.
The Falcons were 1-for-2 on the power play in the game, while the Pointers were 0-for-2.
The two teams play for the fourth and final time this regular season at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 24 at Ice Hawks Arena.
