By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
WINONA, Minn. — After scoring just a combined two goals in back-to-back 1-1 ties last weekend against UW-Stevens Point and Marian, the Saint Mary's University of Minnesota women's hockey team shifted their offense up a notch against UW-River Falls — scoring three times against the nation's sixth-ranked team.
 
Unfortunately for the Cardinals, one notch was not enough against the high-powered Falcons, as UW-River Falls erupted for six goals — while limiting Saint Mary's to single goals in all three periods — in dealing SMU a 6-3 nonconference setback Tuesday evening at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena.
 
"The score really doesn't tell the story tonight," said Saint Mary's coach Greg Moore. "I thought we played very well — we had some stretches where we struggled a bit, but overall, I was very pleased with our effort."
 
The Falcons flexed their muscles early, scoring three times in the game's first 12 minutes. Reilly Springman recorded back-to-back goals to open the scoring and UW-River Falls added another off the stick Haley Nielsen to make it 3-0 with 8:42 remaining.
 
Sophia Zebro (Oak Grove, Minn.) got the Cardinals on the board at 18:27 of the opening period to cut the deficit to 3-1 after 20 minutes — only to have UW-River Falls score the first two goals of the middle frame to push its lead to 5-1.
 
Zebro added her second of the game at 18:28 of period No. 2 and Lexie Budensiek (Farmington, Minn.) tallied her third of the season just 54 seconds into the third, to cut the Falcons' lead to two, 5-3.
 
That, however, would be as close as the Cardinals would get, as Alyson Niebur recorded an insurance goal at 15:32 to ice the UW-River Falls victory.
 
Jordan Keeley (St. Peter, Minn.) finished with 26 saves in goal for the Cardinals — including 11 in the first period — while Sami Miller stopped 22 of Saint Mary's 25 shots in goal for the Falcons.
 
Saint Mary's (4-7-2 overall) return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play this weekend, heading to the Moorhead Sports Center in Moorhead, Minn., for a pair of games against Concordia. The Cardinals and Cobbers will square off at 7 p.m. on Friday evening, before closing out the two-game MIAC series with a 2 p.m. matinee the following day.