UWRF women's hockey on doorstep of 3rd-straight NCAA title
The UW-River Falls Falcons women's hockey team advanced to the national title game, on home ice, for the 3rd-straight season by winning a best-on-best bout over Amherst
River Falls, WI — For the third-straight season, the University of Wisconsin-River Falls women’s hockey team will compete for a national title on home ice. The Falcons are one win away from a third consecutive national title, thanks to an impressive offensive showing against a stalwart defense and by winning a best-on-best goaltending matchup.
“I thought it was a great game, very intense, great crowd, great atmosphere,” River Falls Falcons head coach Joe Cranston said of his team’s 3-1 win over the Amherst Mammoths in front of an above-capacity crowd inside UW-River Falls’ Hunt Arena.
The victory in the NCAA Tournament semifinal sends River Falls (29-1, 11-1 WIAC) back to the national championship game, where it will enjoy the advantage of, once again, having that rowdy crowd behind it. The significance of having earned that right, particularly by defeating a worthy opponent, is not lost on the coaching veteran.
“Just, hats off to Amherst, they’re a phenomenal team,” Cranston said of the program his Falcons have eliminated from the NCAA Tournament in back-to-back seasons. “I thought they played really good and I thought my team played really well too, so very, very proud of my girls.”
Amherst starts fast before penalty
Out of the gate, Amherst controlled the game. Mammoths head coach Jeff Matthews described his team’s start as “excellent.” Amherst logged 12 of the first 13 shot attempts and frustrated the Falcons’ top-ranked offense’s attempts to skate through the neutral zone.
“I thought we were playing with speed, playing fast, playing hard, and creating some scoring chances,” the coach in his 14th season behind the bench added. “I thought we had more scoring chances in the first six, seven [minutes than UWRF]. We had more shots.
“And then, obviously, we took that penalty, and that changed the course.”
River Falls forward Madison Kadrlik drew a body-checking penalty just before the midway point of the opening frame, sending Mammoths starting winger Natalie Fu to the penalty box. It proved to be a moment in which the game swung on its head, as the Falcons’ struggles getting the puck through neutral ice quickly disappeared.
“I feel like we were kind of just throwing the puck, not moving our feet, not looking for the wings and the centers,” Goodreau said about the initial challenge of moving her team across the opposing blue line. “But we figured it out and got the puck out of the zone.”
Power play and breakaway break-throughs
The Amherst Mammoths entered the final weekend of the season leading the way in nearly any defensive metric imaginable. Goaltender Natalie Stott backstopped a defense to a DIII-best 0.69 goals-allowed per game, while her personal 0.63 GAA, .973 save percentage, and 12 shutouts all led the country.
“That’s where the success of any hockey team starts: in net,” Matthews remarked. “And when you have someone of her character on top of her talent, it leads to being here, doing what we’ve done over the last four years.”
Graduating this season, Stott represented the Mammoths as a first-team East All-American for the fourth consecutive year. In DIII, there are separate All-American selections for players from schools in the East and Western halves of the country. In that time, Amherst reached three Frozen Fours in four seasons, twice finishing as national runner-up.
Faced with the task of getting pucks past that stout defense, Cranston told his team they would likely need to score a power-play goal or one on an odd-skater rush. The Falcons got two PPGs and another on a breakaway on Friday night.
UWRF boasts the nation’s best unit on the advantage, scoring on 45.5% of its opportunities. Cranston, in his 27th season leading the Falcons, says his strategy is simple: getting MaKenna Aure, Megan Goodreau, and Sophia Hess, three first-team All-Americans in the west, on the ice.
Goodreau, one of only three players in DIII women’s ice hockey history to tally 200 or more points, helped her team convert on the power play after Fu’s penalty. The 5-foot-9 forward tallied an assist with a backdoor feed to sophomore Alexa Niccum with little room to spare. It was a broken play, but making something out of nothing is just what the senior from Lino Lakes, Minnesota does.
“She can see the ice so well, and that’s something that I really look up to her for,” Kadrlik said. “It’s incredible to see like that small pass and then Alexa just knocking it right in. I mean, [Niccum] obviously had a great hold on her stick, but it was Megan getting it to her and then it was an easy tap-in.”
Matthews said that sequence “changed the momentum” inside Hunt Arena.
First-team All-American goaltenders duel
In the second period, Goodreau scored early, adding her 18th PPG of the season, a women’s DIII record. Just past the halfway point of the middle frame, Kadrlik added a breakaway goal. After she caught Amherst’s defenders watching the puck, she got behind everybody, hit Stott’s right leg on an initial shot, but tucked the rebound around her toes for a 3-0 lead.
Friday’s national semifinal featured both first-team All-American goaltenders. Between the pipes opposite Stott stood UWRF’s Jordan O’Kane, the representative for the west. Regardless of River Falls’ initial offensive sputtering, the Alexandria, Minnesota native was the constant throughout.
“I thought she was the best player in the rink,” Cranston said about his netminder’s near-perfect outing.
A late power-play goal thwarted the 5-foot-5 netminder’s shutout bid, but 30 saves was just enough to get the Falcons over the finish line, stopping the initial flurry all the way up to a late wraparound attempt, preventing Amherst from getting within striking distance.
“She was just seeing pucks very well, and she was just outstanding,” Cranston added. “She’s been outstanding for two years, but I thought [tonight was], probably, her best performance that I’ve ever seen since she’s been here.”
The senior is up to 26 wins on the season, including eight shutouts, holding a steady 1.00 goals-against-average.
“I think we had just as many good chances as they did,” Amherst defender and co-captain Emily Hohmann said. “Watching from the blue line at times, there were literally pucks sitting on the goal line that we just couldn’t get a good swat at.”
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