Bananas Good, Giving Up Goals Bad

RIVER FALLS, Wis. (1/07/17)---Bananas come in bunches and eating them is good for you. Giving up goals in bunches against a nationally ranked team is not good for you.

Concordia gave up two goals 1:35 apart from one another in the second period and another set 1:54 apart in the third period and lost 4-1 to No.3-ranked Wis.-River Falls.

The loss is the second straight against the Falcon and drops the Cobbers' overall record to 8-4-1 on the year. River Falls wins for the seventh straight game and improve to 12-1-0.

The series finale played out in similar to the series opener on Friday night. Concordia senior Jess Nelson staked the Cobbers to a 1-0 lead midway through the first period. And like Friday, Amber Schaack and Ellen Rethwisch were on the ice to set up the Nelson strike.         

Concordia was outshot 19-3 in the first period but senior goalie Andrea Klug was on top of her game and kept the Cobbers in the lead heading into the second period.

The final 40 minutes were more of a back-and-forth contest with the Falcons holding a slight 17-14 edge in shots.

The game changed midway through the second frame when Concordia was called for a hooking penalty at the 8:39 mark. It took UWRF only four seconds to even the score as they won the draw and then slammed home the equalizer.

The Cobbers won the draw, controlled the puck in the Falcons zone and got a pair of shots which were stopped by the River Falls netminder. UWRF then won the faceoff in their own end, rushed the puck the length of the ice and scored the game-winning goal at the 10:18 mark.

The game was still at 2-1 heading into the third period and then Concordia was staked to a power play at 5:35. Tori Davis fired a pair of shots on net but both were stopped and CC wasn't able to generate any more offensive with the man advantage.

River Falls finished off the game with a goal at the 9:55 mark and then another at 11:49.

Like Friday, Concordia was unable to crack the net on the power play. CC went 0-for-5 on the power play on Saturday and was 0-for-9 for the weekend.

River Falls was 1-for-4 on the power play in the series finale.

The Falcons outshot the Cobbers 36-17 for the game. Nelson and Davis both had a team-high three shots on goal.

POWER OUTAGE: The 0-for-9 power play stat line for the weekend marks the longest stretch this season that CC has failed to score with the extra attacker. It is also only the second time this year that they have played back-to-back games without scoring on the PP.  

NOTHING BUT NELSON: Concordia scored three goals in the two games against national ranked Falcons and all three came off the stick of Jess Nelson. She now has a team-high nine nuggets and 14 points. Her nine goals are a single-season career high and tied for second most in the MIAC.  

IS IT SCHAWISCH OR RETHAACK: Seniors Amber Schaack and Ellen Rethwisch are right next to each other on the roster (No.9 and No.8) and on the top of the team's assist list. Both players had assists on all three goals on the weekend. Schaack leads the team with eight helpers and Rethwisch has seven. The two have combined to have at least one assist in 10 of the team's 13 games this year. 

WHAT'S NEXT: Concordia will kick off the conference schedule in 2017 by playing at Hamline in a two-game series next weekend. The Pipers are 6-5-1 overall and 4-1 in the MIAC and are coming off a 4-4 overtime tie with Wis.-Stevens Point on Saturday. The Cobbers swept the Pipers last season in Moorhead.