RIVER FALLS, Wis. – It's tough enough when you start your conference schedule against a nationally-ranked opponent- especially if it's on the road, but the women's hockey team (2-2, 0-2) once again played No. 6 UW-River Falls (2-0, 2-0) down to the wire. This time taking the Falcons to the third period, tied for the second consecutive day, and coming up short in a 4-2 decision Saturday afternoon at Hunt Arena in Northern Collegiate Hockey Association action.

The Falcons scored two specialty-team goals, while the Bulldogs went 0-for-5 on the power play.

River Falls got on the board first- scoring just over three minutes into the game. With less than four minutes left in the first period, Adrian's Kristin Maton took a feed from Hannah McGowan for her second goal of the year to knot the game at 1-1. Adrian goaltender Brittany Zeches helped keep the Bulldogs in the game with 18 saves alone in the first period.

The Falcons scored a short-handed goal about five minutes into the second period to go up 2-1, but Danielle Smith's unassisted second goal of the season again tied the score.

Just as in the previous night, the third period was not kind to the Bulldogs. With just over seven minutes remaining in regulation play, the Falcons took the lead, 3-2. They would add a late power-play goal with just 20 seconds left in the game to end any Bulldog rally.

Adrian had 17 shots on the afternoon, while goaltender Brittany Zeches had 40 saves. As in the previous night's game, both teams were feisty with 16 penalties being called between them. Adrian was flagged for three penalties each period, while the Falcons were only flagged once in two of the three periods.

The Bulldogs will continue on the road next weekend with a pair of games against UW-Eau Claire, both set to start at 8 p.m.