RIVER FALLS — A second period goal and 60 minutes of aggressive hockey went UWRF’s way as the Falcons inked a spot into the Frozen Four for the eighth time in school history. The Falcons are defending back-to-back National Championships, so every team they face is taking their best swings night in and night out. Williams was no different Saturday night, keeping River Falls to its lowest scoring game of the year, in which the Falcons survived 1-0.

“I knew it would be a defensive game going in. I didn’t think it would be 1-0, but if you look at our team, it’s been a long time since we didn’t have a powerplay goal or get a goal from [Megan] Goodreau or [Sophia] Hess, but we got a much needed one from this kid here [Makenna Aure], and she does that a lot,” UWRF Head Coach Joe Cranston said. “What an outstanding job Williams did to play the way they played and play that style, and they’re right with us the whole game, skated with us. Their transition game was crazy fast and good, something I really wasn’t expecting. I thought we did a really good job to combat that, and we back-checked hard and we played really hard.”

River Falls led the first period shot department 13-10, but each side had a power play and multiple good chances to score. UWRF senior goalie Jordan O’Kane and Williams senior goalie Erin Pye shut down everything sent their way, something that would not change the rest of the way.

Cranston said the opening to the second period was where the Falcons got sloppy, giving away the puck when uncontested at times. Everything changed when Aure took a pass from Katherine Bell over the middle and found the back of the net.

“Most of our goals from defense are starting from our forwards,” Aure, who is up to 14 goals on the season, said. “I got the pass from captain Bell, and yeah I scored, but it stemmed from her. I usually use the people in front of the net as a screen.”

The energy was there the rest of the way, closing out the second period with a 1-0 lead.

“Once we score, it’s go time,” Cranston said. “The second period, we had them pinned pretty much the whole period, and that’s because we score that goal and we get teams on their heels and go.”

Williams did not stop applying the pressure in the third period. In the waning minutes, Williams was granted a power play. The Ephs made O’Kane work in the net, and defenders were sliding all over the ice to make stops. When all was said and done, the Falcons were moving on to the semi-finals.

“Message never changed. We went in with a plan. We were going to be very aggressive offensively with all five of our defensemen, our forwards. We weren’t going to sit back,” Cranston said. “We just stuck to our guns.”

O’Kane held off 37 Williams shots and Pye stopped 45 of her own. Cranston also credited defender Sami Pool for strong play on both ends of the ice to help preserve the shutout. River Falls was in full control of the faceoff game, winning 41-22, especially dominating the defensive zone faceoffs.

“Definitely a little bit nerve-wracking, but I had full confidence in my team. Even when we’re on the penalty kill, we’re so confident," O’Kane said. “Once we got the man advantage back, I just had full confidence that the team was going to get it out and get pucks deep.”

Despite students being on spring break, 1,200 strong filled the seats to cheer on the hometown defending champs. Those fans made a big difference in the game.

“Our fans are unreal. Think of all the students we had at this game, and we’re on spring break,” Cranston said. “Our fans are unbelievable. Talk about a great atmosphere in there. It’s a great atmosphere if you’re a Falcon, because it’s definitely an advantage to us.”

Now, at 28-1 on the year, the Falcons have the honor of hosting the Frozen Four, starting with a date with 21-2-6 Amherst College at 7 p.m. Friday.

“We know that every team, they have to outwork us if they’re going to beat us, so we just can’t let that happen,” Cranston said. “We never take a practice off. We never take a shift off… We know we’ve got the target on our back and they’re going to come after us.”

Given the back-to-back titles, Cranston said the Falcons have seen firsthand how hard opponents work against them, showing in a few sluggish first periods this season.

“It definitely motivates our team also when we hear teams saying, ‘Uh oh, we don’t like that Falcons,’” Aure said. “It definitely puts a fire underneath our butt to show them why we are good enough to be here and why they should be scared.”

O’Kane said it all starts in practice for the Falcons, doing conditioning work every day to make sure they are not outworked. Amherst is another elite defensive team, so River Falls will need to be just as in-sync.