Issued: January 21, 2004

WOMEN'S HOCKEY STAYS HOT, POUNDS ST. KATE'S

EAU CLAIRE - The UW-Eau Claire women's hockey team scored six unanswered goals en route to a 9-2 thrashing of St. Catherine here tonight at Hobbs Ice Arena.

The Blugolds improve to 7-8-2 for the season and have now won five of their last six games. The Wildcats fall to 4-8-1 and snap a four-game win streak.

St. Kate's was actually the first on the board in the lopsided game, scoring at the 14:23 mark in the first period to take a 1-0 lead. The Blugolds, who tied with the Wildcats earlier this season, then scored six unanswered goals sparked by an Amanda Schultz (So.-Stevens Point/SPASH) goal halfway through the first period. The goal was her team-leading seventh of the season. Amber Stevenson (Fr.-Eagan, MN) put the Blugolds up for good just 12 seconds later with a goal of her own. The score remained 2-1 until the 2:44 mark of the first period when Laura Suppes (Fr.-Falcon Heights, MN) took a pass from Karen Hebert (Fr.-Lakeville, MN/Academy of the Holy Angels) and put the Blugolds up by two goals. Less than two minutes later Suppes returned the favor and dished a pass to Hebert who scored the Blugolds' fourth unanswered goal, giving Eau Claire a 4-1 lead heading into the first intermission.

Hebert notched her second assist of the night on the Blugolds' first goal of the second period, sending a pass to Tara Hayner (Fr.-Stillwater, MN) who put Eau Claire up 5-1. Schultz tallied her second goal of the night and sixth unanswered from the Blugolds with 8:32 left to play in the second when she scored an unassisted goal, putting Eau Claire up 6-1.

The Wildcats scored with 1:48 remaining in the second period to make the score 6-2 heading into the second intermission. Blugold defender Allison Timberg (Fr.-Minnetonka, MN) extended the lead to 7-2 early in the third period when she scored the first goal of her collegiate career. Allison Campbell (Fr.-Plymouth, MN/Wayzata) scored with 13:32 remaining and Hebert finished things off with her second goal of the night, coming with 52 seconds left to play, and the Blugolds earned their third victory in a row by a score of 9-2.

Sara Steinhoff (So.-West St. Paul, MN/Henry Sibley) played all 60 minutes in goal for the Blugolds, notching 23 saves in the victory.

Eau Claire will take a well-earned break from action until January 30 and 31 when they will travel to River Falls to battle the Northern Collegiate Hockey Association rival Falcons. Face off for both games is 7:05 p.m.

Eau Claire 9, St. Catherine 2

Scoring

1P: SC-Deidre Lindstrom (Katie Eichten), 14:23; EC-Amanda Schultz (Christa Hubert), 9:59; EC-Amber Stevenson (Sarah Kidd, Jessie Boyles), 9:42; EC-Laura Suppes (Karen Hebert), 2:44gw; EC-Hebert (Suppes), 1:09.

2P: EC-Tara Hayner (Hebert), 13:27; EC-Schultz (unassisted), 8:32; SC-Lindstrom (unassisted), 1:48.

3P: EC-Allison Timberg (Schultz), 16:04; EC-Allison Campbell (unassisted), 13:32; EC-Hebert (Suppes, Crystal Wasem), 0:52.

Shots: EC 13-10-13-36; SC 9-11-5-25
Saves: EC 8-10-5-23, SC 9-8-10-27
Power Plays: EC 0 for 1, SC 0 for 3
Penalties: EC 3 for 6, SC 1 for 2
Records: EC 7-8-2, SC 4-8-1