The University of Wisconsin-River Falls women’s ice hockey team competed in the NCAA Tournament in the quarterfinal round on Saturday in River Falls, defeating last year’s national champion Gustavus Adolfus Gusties 2-1.

After getting in on an at large bid, River Falls drew home field advantage throughout the playoffs thanks to their perfect 28-0 record thus far this season.

It was a fast first period with UWRF and the Gusties in a dead heat for shots on goal at the midpoint. Things picked up quickly for the Falcons though, as Aubrey Nevin punched one in to get River Falls on the board, 1-0.

The Gusties had their opportunities to tie it back up, namely on a breakaway where they got ahead of the Falcon defenders and flipped one at the far side of the goal, but UWRF goalie Jordan O’Connor stayed perfect, snapping it out of midair and keeping the lead in the right place. Bailey Olson came close to making it 2-0 for River Falls late in the frame, skating around defenders and slapping it so closely to being in the net that people began to celebrate.

Ultimately, the clock would run out on the first period, and the Falcons would go into the intermission with a one-goal lead.

Whereas period one was all River Falls, the second showed the momentum shifting to Gustavus early on and became an all-out dogfight by the second intermission.

The puck dropped, and the Gusties came out hot. At the 2:00 mark, they had worked themselves into good position, looping around the net and trying for a back door goal. It resulted in a scramble for the puck in front of the net, and amidst the chaos, it slipped in to tie the score.

Gustavus maintained their up-tempo play and put River Falls on their heels for a good part of the first half of period two. Slowly but surely, the shots on goal evened out and the Gusties took the lead in that category late.

River Falls skaters manufactured some opportunities to retake the lead behind number one scorer in the nation Maddie McCollins and two more of the top five leaders in points in Megan Goodreau and Alex Hantge. The timely puck handling of the offense and the high-quality goaltending kept the Falcons in the game, and a flurry of shots at the end had them retaking the SOG lead at 19-17, but they would ultimately go into the break still tied at 1-1 ahead of the final period.

The final frame moved forward at a brisk pace, begging the question of whether it would be the Falcons’ best three versus the Gusties’ best three in sudden death overtime. However, the tie would be broken up with plenty of time to spare.

At the 13:50 mark, some great skating by Hantge set her up with a shot that would sail wide, but it set up Madison Lavergne who would put it in moments later to secure a 2-1 lead for the Falcons. Contrary to what one might think, rather than the goal taking the edge off for fans in this nailbiter, that’s when things got more interesting.

A minute later, up 2-1 with a big portion of the third period left in what had thus far been a very clean game, the black birds got cited for a 2:00 defensive interference penalty for disrupting the Gusties as they tried to overpower the Falcons’ defense in front of the net. 

With the momentum seeming to shift in this moment, the Falcons gave the Gusties a huge opportunity to tie it up with a power play goal. River Falls proceeded to implement the penalty kill with the methodical and deliberate nature of craftsmen going about their trade. As a fan, it’s unnerving to see the game hanging in the balance, but UWRF performed admirably and came out on the other side unscathed while only allowing two shots on goal the entire 2:00.

With the minutes winding down towards all zeroes, Gustavus eventually pulled their goalie. Unfortunately for them, they also incurred a 2:00 penalty with exactly 2:00 remaining in the game resulting in them playing a shorthanded 5-on-5 instead of with a personnel advantage. The maneuver was unsuccessful, and the Falcons would hold on to the 2-1 victory and advance to the Frozen Four.

In the final 10:00 of the game, River Falls showed why they are now 29-0 on the season as their defense tightened up and choked off any opportunity for the Gusties to put a goal on the net as O’Connor only needed to make one more stop before time ran out. In fact, Gustavus only got three shots on goal the entire third period.

It marks the fourth time this season that River Falls beat the reigning champs. Although River Falls made it into the tournament with an at large bid due to the small size of their conference, they still entered as the one-seed with the best record in the country.

For McCollins, this was the first time she had played the Gusties since her freshman year.

“We beat them, but then COVID happened. So, just to actually beat them in the final eight game and be able to go into a Frozen Four is just unreal,” McCollins said. “As a program, we haven't done this in quite a while, and I can't believe we're actually going. I'm so excited, and I'm so proud of our team and just can’t wait to play some more games.”

Logistically, it makes sense that they would play Gustavus (three-seed) in the first round, although it’s unfortunate that these two high caliber teams should face each other right away as somebody had to lose, and both sides had earned a lesser opponent.

Speaking of other opponents, though definitely not lesser, River Falls will now advance to the Frozen Four where they will host the 28-2 Adrian Bulldogs this Friday for a chance to go to the championship game for the first time since 2016 when they made it to the championship but lost to University of New York Plattburgh.

Head Coach Joe Cranston says that of all the times they’ve made it this far into the postseason, they’ve never had the opportunity to host throughout the tournament, which is a huge bonus for the players.

“It will be great to host the Frozen Four. The girls get to sleep in their own beds and have their normal routine, that is the biggest advantage. It should be a great tournament,” Cranston said.

For a program that boasts 24 straight winning seasons culminating in a perfect 29-0 start to this one, they’ve also never won a championship.

While in pursuit of that goal, Goalie O’Connor says the objective is to prepare for the next game like they would any other.

“Honestly, I want nothing to change. Every day in practice I'm challenged. We have the best offense in the country. It's a goalie’s worst nightmare, but it's awesome” O’Connor said. “I think a big thing with the girls we have is we believe in each other, and we trust the girl next to us. We don't rely on her to go out and score, we believe that she can go and score. I think that's a great thing going into next weekend.”

Coach Cranston says he couldn’t be prouder of his team, his assistant coaches, and especially the six seniors.

“It’s been an unbelievable season so far. They just find a way to win, and every time it seems like it's tough sledding, we get the job done,” Cranston said. “For two or three weeks now, I’ve been asking the girls, ‘What's our record? 0-0. How many games do you have left? One.’ So, we just take it one game at a time and get ‘er done. And that's what these awesome girls have accomplished.”

Should the Falcons win this Friday, they would host the NCAA Championship game at Hunt Arena the following week, something that Cranston sees as an inevitability.

“It’ll be here,” Cranston said. “It’s yet to be determined, but it’ll be here.”

That determination will happen this Friday night in River Falls when the Falcons host the Adrian Bulldogs. The puck drops on home ice for the Frozen Four at 7 p.m.