Game Summary

RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The Saint Mary's University men's hockey team turned its best performance of the season Friday evening against UW-River Falls.

Unfortunately for the Cardinals, their best wasn't quite good enough, as the Falcons scored a pair of first-period goals and added an empty-netter with eight seconds remaining in regulation to beat the Cardinals 3-1.

"It's disappointing, because we played so well," said SMU coach Don Olson, whose team has now dropped four straight, and is looking for its first win since a 6-3 triumph over Augsburg on Dec. 3. "I was very frustrated with our work ethic (in last Saturday's 6-2 loss to St. Scholastica), but tonight was a completely different story. Everyone battled from start to finish.

"It's just too bad they couldn't be rewarded for those efforts."

The Falcons got on the board midway through the opening period as Derek Hansberry netted his 12th of the season. UW-River Falls made it 2-0 with 23 seconds remaining in the first period, as Pat Borgestad converted a penalty shot, sneaking the puck just under the pad of SMU goalie Curtis Nosal (Omaha, Neb.).

The Cardinals picked up the only goal of the second period on Tim McNamara's (Hastings, Minn.) fourth of the season, but SMU could not get the equalizer — despite several quality chances in the game's final 20 minutes — and T.J. Dahl iced the win for the Falcons with the empty-net goal late in the third.

"There's no question this was a game we could have won — we certainly played well enough to win," said Olson, whose team returns to action Saturday, playing host to UW-Stout in their final nonconference game of the season. "But when you're struggling, sometimes the breaks just don't seem to go your way.

"And that was the case tonight."