WINONA, Minn. — UW-River Falls came into Saturday's nonconference contest with the Saint Mary's University women's hockey team ranked No. 4 in the country — and the Falcons proved that lofty ranking to be a very well-deserved.
 
UW-River Falls took the ice ready to flex its offensive muscles from the opening face-off, outshooting the Cardinals 20-6 in the game's first 20 minutes — and getting goals from Bailey Olson, Reilly Springman, Kora Torkelson, and Callie Hoff to take a commanding 4-0 advantage into the locker room at the first intermission.
  
And the 15-minute first-period intermission did nothing to cool off the high-powered Falcons, who peppered goalie Jordan Keeley (St. Peter, Minn.) with 21 second-period shots. UW-River Falls would put three of those 21 second-period shots past the Cardinal senior goalie to push their lead to 7-0 heading to the third period.
 
The third and final period proved to be the best for the Cardinals, who seemed to find their offensive rhythm, creating several good scoring opportunities — only to have UW-River Falls goalie Sami Miller thwart each and every one of them.
 
UW-River Falls closed out the game with a commanding 51-15 advantage in shots on goal. Along with Ary Ziakas' (Palatine, Ill.) 16 first-period shots, Keeley finished with 28 saves over the game's final 40 minutes — including 18 in the second period alone
 
Saint Mary's (1-2-0 overall) kicks off Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference play next weekend, playing host to Concordia for a pair of league games at the Saint Mary's Ice Arena. The Cardinals and Cobbers will face-off at 7 p.m. on Friday, before completing the two-game series with a 2 p.m. matinee the following afternoon.