Sports shorts
The Spectator staff
Issue date: 12/10/09 Section: Sports
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The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team traveled to Mequon this weekend to compete in a double header against Concordia University. The Blugolds lost the first game, 2-3, but returned the favor in the second game with a 3-2 victory.
In the opener, the Blugolds jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first period. Just one minute and 27 seconds into the contest, senior Beth Dittrich found the back of the net with an even-strength goal. A little more than 10 minutes later, junior Kristen Faber scored, assisted by sophomore Jackie McKay and junior Kelli Johnson.
The Falcons then capped off a high-scoring first period with a goal just before the end of the period. A little more than a minute into the second period, the Falcons knotted up the game at 2-2, where the game would stay until the 7:10 mark in the third period.
In the second game of the series it was the Falcons who scored first, recording a goal just 44 seconds into the contest. At the 8:33 mark in the second period, the Blugolds evened the score on a goal from junior Christine Dickinson - assisted by junior Rita Simones.
After an even-strength goal from the Falcons, Faber took control of the game. Just over four minutes into the third period, she scored a goal to tie the game at 2-2. Dittrich and McKay recorded assists on the play. At the 11:30 mark in the third, Faber scored the eventual game-winning goal off of an assist from sophomore Taylor Jenkins.
Men's hockey
In a double header against rival UW-Stout, the UW-Eau Claire Blugolds finished without a loss. In the first of the two games, played in Eau Claire, the Blugolds won big - 3-0. In the second game, played in Menomonie, the Blugolds didn't win, but did manage to salvage a 2-2 tie.
In the past six years, Eau Claire is a lowly 0-13-1 against the Blue Devils. That winless streak changed on Friday when the team won. At the 4:26 mark in the first period senior Nate Smith - assisted by freshmen Joe Freund and Isaiah Bennis - scored the game's first goal. In the second period Bennis and senior Nicholas Kugali teamed up to assist junior Ross Janecyk for the second goal of the game. Sophomore Nic Weight put the game out of reach in the third period with the third and final goal of the contest.
Only seven minutes into the second game, the Blugolds trailed 0-2. With only seconds left on the clock in the first period, Weight recorded his third goal of the season, cutting the deficit to one. Seniors Brant Marple and Joe Bluhm recorded assists on the play.
After a scoreless second period, Kugali found the back of the net at the 2:08 mark in the third, tying the game at two. In the overtime period, the Blugolds outshot the Blue Devils 3-1, but both teams failed to score and the game ended in a 2-2 tie.
Men's Basketball
A late surge from the UW-Eau Claire men's basketball team was not enough to push them past UW-La Crosse Saturday night.
The Blugolds jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead until the 16:23 mark when La Crosse first got on the board. From there, both teams battled back and forth for the rest of the second half. As each team tried to impose their will, neither was able to obtain more than a five point advantage.
Although La Crosse attempted 32 shots to the Blugolds' 23, both teams remained tied with 28 points each to end the half. This was greatly aided by La Crosse, who shot just 34.4 percent in the field, to Eau Claire's 56.5 percent.
The second half began with more of the same as both teams tried to gain momentum in their favor for the first three minutes. Both teams were tied at 32, however this only continued until the 17:21 mark when La Crosse began a 12-0 run. At the end of the run La Crosse held a 44-32 lead, and only two minutes had come off the game clock.
La Crosse held an eight point lead until the Blugolds started chipping away at the deficit with just under six minutes to go in the game. The lead was cut to just three points with 11 seconds to go on a three pointer from senior Colin Boone. After a quick foul by Eau Claire, La Crosse was able to hit the ensuing free-throws, and come away with a 69-64 victory over the Blugolds.
Senior Geoff Probst led all scorers with 26 points. Freshman Marcus Ruh was the next leading scorer for Eau Claire, with 10 points of his own.
Women's basketball
The women's basketball team came away with a 61-55 victory on Parent Day Saturday night over UW-La Crosse.
Things remained even between both teams until the 12 minute mark when La Crosse started to put some space between the two teams. Over the next six minutes the Eagles built an 11 point lead and appeared to be in control of the game.
La Crosse maintained at least a 10 point advantage until they started to pull away more with less than two minutes to go in the half. The lead eventually grew to 17 points before the Blugolds hit a shot at the buzzer, making the halftime score 38-24.
After the half time break, Eau Claire came out with an 18-4 run and had the game tied before the 10 minute mark in the second half. Eau Claire's momentum continued for the rest of the half, as the team shot a remarkable 75 percent from the field.
The high shooting percentage for Eau Claire allowed the team to build a lead of their own up to 10 points. La Crosse made a brief run to end the game, but they were unable to cut the deficit to less than five. The game ended with the Blugolds coming away with a 61-55 victory over the conference foe.
Eau Claire improved to 3-4 after the victory and have started the conference season 2-0. Junior Hannah Mesick lead the way for the Blugolds with 16 points. Sophomore Ellen Plendl added 15 points of her own.
Last night's game at UW-River Falls was cancelled because of bad weather, and was rescheduled for 7 p.m. tonight at River Falls.
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