Women's Hockey downed by Adrian in opening game of weekend series

ADRIAN, Mich. – Power play struggles and a potent Adrian College offensive attack proved too much for the Concordia University Wisconsin Women's Hockey team in a 5-1 setback Friday afternoon. The Falcons dropped their fifth straight in the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association matchup.

Adrian, the 10th ranked team in the nation according to D3hockey.com, scored two goals each in the first and second period, building a 4-0 lead after 40 minutes of play. The Bulldogs added one in the third building a 5-0 lead before the Falcons got a goal from junior Samantha Reiter (Stillwater, Minn.).

CUW struggled on the power play going 0-for-8 with an extra skater. The Bulldogs on the other hand converted one power play chance out of four, gaining their extra skater goal in the first period.

The game was scoreless for 14:13 until Adrian's Kelsey Kusch scored her team-leading 18th goal of the season. AC then pushed the lead to 2-0 on a power play score from Alix Vallee who lit the lamp with 1:48 seconds remaining in the opening stanza.

The Bulldogs (13-3, 6-3 NCHA) would add two second-period goals at the 13:42 and 19:08 marks, respectively. Kaylyn Schroka made the score 3-0, while McKenzie Carey buried one home with just 52 seconds left in the second period. Kristin Lewicki would add the Bulldogs fifth goal at the 6:23 mark of the third period.

Reiter would give the Falcons (6-9, 4-4 NCHA) their only score one minute after the final Bulldogs goal. Sophomore Katherine Pauletti (Roseville, Minn.) and senior Maxine Blohowiak (Green Bay, Wis.) assisted on the Reiter score.

Jase Walsh picked up the win between the pipes for the Bulldogs, stopping 29 of 30 shots she faced. CUW actually held a 30-27 edge in shots, including a 13-7 advantage over the final period. Junior Jennifer DeGeorge (Waukesha, Wis.) was the goalie of record for the Falcons, making 17 saves, while junior Andrea Mizanskey (Palos Heights, Ill.) made her first appearance of the season, making five saves in 13:37 of play.

These two teams will get together again tomorrow for the completion of this weekend's series. Puck is set to drop at 11 a.m. CDT and live coverage links will be available at CUWFalcons.com.