After letting up a first period goal, Wisconsin-River Falls scored five unanswered goals to defeat St. Thomas, 5-1, in the NCAA Division III quarterfinal round and move on to the Frozen Four.
St. Thomas took the initial lead when Tomery Stolz scored late in the first period.
River Falls responded with three goals in the first 7:28 of the second period by Lisa McGuire, Tiff Stencil, and Leah Baron. Ali Slinden added a power-play tally late in the period for a 4-1 lead at the second intermission. It was Slinden’s team-leading 19th goal of the season,
Becky Kilpatrick replaced Danielle Mikolai in the net for St. Thomas to start the third period. It didn’t help, as Lindsy Carlson scored another power-play goal for the Falcons late in the period to wrap up the scoring. River Falls went two for four on the power play while St. Thomas was shut out on its two attempts.
UWRF outshot the Tommies, 33-18, as Marlene Yaeger made 17 saves for the win, including 11 in the third period.
St. Thomas, the MIAC champion, ends its season with a record of 19-7-2.
River Falls goes to 20-4-4 and will make its first appearance in the NCAA semis. With this victory, one semifinal matchup is already set. The Falcons will play the host team, Elmira, which got a bye into the semifinal round, on Friday, March 21.
