10/28/06

The Saints had hopes for a mild upset of No. 18 UW-Eau Claire on Saturday afternoon but the host Blugolds dashed the hopes of No. 25 St. Scholastica with two unanswered goals in the first half on the way to a 3-0 non-conference victory for Eau Claire.

"They were just a better team....today," said Saints head coach Dave Reyelts. "But I sure would like to get a second crack at them in two weeks," he added, clearly implying he still believes his Saints are an NCAA Tournament-ready squad who could end up playing Eau Claire in a sub-region game that the Blugolds are in line to host.

Eau Claire's game plan was to pound the ball in deep into the offensive zone then let some pinball action take place, which is exactly how their first and last goals got past the Saints' Kelly Momsen who had a stellar game between the pipes holding the winning margin to only three. On each of those two goals Eau Claire crossed balls from deep in the zone on the wings that reached the back post where a Blugold player was able to sneak the ball behind Momsen with one-touch shots.

St. Scholastica's best opportunity may have come in the first 45 seconds of the game as they gained deep penetration and nearly beat Eau Claire goalie Allie Rivard with a quick shot that she was able to get to and prevent the rumblings of an upset from the upstart Saints.

Momsen finished with eight saves in the game while a strong Eau Claire defense limited the Saints to just six shots in the game and only two on goal.

The loss ended the Saints' 15 game win streak and drops their season mark to 17-2-1.

St. Scholastica will next be in action when they host the the UMAC post-season tournament November 4-5 as the No. 1 seed. The Saints will play No. 4 seed Northland College in one semi-final on Saturday while No. 2 seed UM-Morris battles No. 3 Northwestern in the other. The winners will meet in the championship final on Sunday.