RIVER FALLS — Winning back-to-back-to-back National Championships put the target on the backs of the UWRF women’s hockey team, and they are taking that in stride. The Falcons are 4-0 after picking up wins against a couple of formidable foes in No. 7 Augsburg and St. Scholastica.

“We’re young, but we’re working hard. I’m really happy with everybody’s effort. The thing that’s tough is just having to raise our compete level every game, because everybody’s going to give us their best game,” Falcon Coach Joe Cranston said. “Everybody’s trying to beat us with the No. 1 ranking.”

Against Augsburg, Sami Pool scored first seven minutes into the game, but the Auggies countered with a goal of their own just three minutes later. Falcons Katie Ball and Madison Kadrlik found the back of the net in the late second and early third, with Sophia Hess sealing the deal in the third with a goal that extended the lead to 4-2 in an eventual 4-3 win.

River Falls had control over the result of the game, winning the total shooting battle 42-23. The Falcons also dominated the face-off circle, winning 39-of-63 opportunities. Nine Falcons recorded a point in the win.

Against St. Scholastica, the Falcons were tied 0-0 after the first period and 1-1 after two thanks to a five-on-three powerplay goal from Pool. River Falls then took the lead with five minutes to play when sophomore Gracyn Knowles drilled a shot into the net. St. Scholastica had its chance in the final minutes with a powerplay, but the Falcons secured the penalty kill, and Pool fired one into the empty net with less than a minute remaining to close out a 3-1 win.

Between those two games, preseason exhibitions against Augsburg and Gustavus Adolphus and the next two games being against Saint Benedict and Gustavus Adolphus, River Falls is already battle-tested.

“It’s definitely good. We played a school like St. Scholastica last night. They’re every bit as good, I think, as Augsburg. All the MIAC Minnesota teams are all pretty good, so we start off with a really tough schedule,” Cranston said.

Saint Benedict won the MIAC a year ago, and Gustavus Adolphus is historically one of the best the conference has to offer, so Cranston knows the road does not get easier. While being the defending champions comes with the target on the back, it also comes with the student-athletes entering the season knowing what the expectations are of them every single day. Many teams use the early season to ramp up and understand the system, but the Falcons have the luxury of experience in what it takes to be great. This year’s team is a young one, but that history still shines through.

“I think it carries over. We only actually have four seniors and four juniors. We’re not a very top-end heavy team. We’ve got a lot of freshmen who have never won a National Championship,” Cranston said. “We’re not really a veteran team, but any experience you get winning that thing or even getting your recruits to come to those games and see the thousands of people there and see that atmosphere and all that, winning breeds more winning and success.”

The season is just getting started, but there is also no time to blink.

“Without an auto-bid in our league, we have to get an at-large bid. There’s only four [auto-bids] in the country this year. We’ve got to get ‘er done. You can’t ever take a night off. We’ve just got to be prepared every week,” Cranston said.