By DONNY NADEAU
Saint Mary's Sports Information Director
 
RIVER FALLS, Wis. — The road certainly didn't get any easier for the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team.
 
A week after opening the season with a pair of games against third-ranked Adrian, the Cardinals took the ice against yet another national power — squaring off against No. 5 UW-River Falls Saturday at W.H. Hunt Arena.
 
And for the third time in as many games, the Cardinals gave one of the nation's best teams all they could handle.
 
Unfortunately, the Cardinals' Herculean effort just wasn't quite enough — again.
 
UW-River Falls erased a 1-0 Saint Mary's lead with two goals less than two minutes apart late in the second period — and added two more in the third period — as the Falcons dealt the Cardinals a 4-1 nonconference setback.
 
Anya Hafiz (Woodbury, Minn.) broke a scoreless deadlock at 8:14 of the second period, scoring a power-play goals off assists from Courtney Moser (Blaine, Minn.) and Amber Miller ().
 
That goal may have given the Cardinals the lead, but it also woke the Falcons' offensive sleeping giant, as UW-River Falls responded with back-to-back goals in less than two minutews late in the period to give UWRF a 2-1 lead.
 
Abigail Stow knotted the game at 1-1 with a power-play tally at 16:28, and Maddie McCollins added the Falcons' second goal at 18:02 to put UW-River Falls' in front heading to the game's final 20 minutes.
 
Kora Torkelson gave the Falcons some breathing room, netting UW-River Falls' third straight goal seven minutes into the third period, and Erica Schramel added an empty net goal with 1:37 remaining to round out the scoring.
 
Ary Ziakas (Palatine, Ill.) was busy between the pipes for the Cardinals, stopping 36 Falcon shots — including 14 in the first period and 16 more in the second — while Sami Miller stopped 12 of Saint Mary's 13 shots.
 
The Cardinals (0-3-0 overall) kick off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend, hosting Concordia for a pair of games at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. The Cardinals and Cobbers will square off at 7 p.m. on Friday, with Saturday's rematch slated for 2 p.m. The Falcons (3-0-0 overall), meanwhile, open WIAC play next weekend, hosting UW-Stevens Point in a 7:05 p.m. contests Friday evening at W.H. Hunt Arena in River Falls, Wis., before heading to Ashland, Wis., for a 7 p.m. conference showdown against Northland.