RIVER FALLS, Wis. – Sophomore Bryn Etzell scored her first goal of the season for the St. Olaf College women's hockey team in a 2-1 loss to top-ranked UW-River Falls in non-conference play on Tuesday evening at Hunt Arena.

Etzell tied the game at 1-1 midway through the second period for St. Olaf (3-6-0), but UW-River Falls (5-1-0) got the game-winning power-play goal from Alexa Niccum in the final two minutes of the middle period. The Falcons were ranked No. 1 in the country in this week's USCHO and DIIIHockey News national polls. The game was St. Olaf's fourth against a No. 1-ranked team in the USCHO poll's archives dating back to the 2006-07 season.

UW-River Falls thought it had opened the scoring at 12:42 of the opening period when the light went off on a shot by Makenne Kadrlik, but the puck was judged to have hit the pipe rather than going in. The Falcons proceeded to score on a Kylie Jones shot from the inner edge of the right circle just 38 seconds later for the lone goal of the first period.

The score remained 1-0 until Etzell lit the lamp at 11:05 of the second period with a shot from the right point that made it through traffic. The sophomore's goal was the third of her career and was assisted by seniors MaKenna Beaver and Emma Heath.

Niccum tallied the eventual game-winner by sneaking a shot in from the right point on the power play with 1:07 to go in the second for the hosts. Prior to the goal, St. Olaf had a power play in a 1-1 game after Niccum took a body-checking penalty at the 15:05 mark.

The Oles got another power play – their fourth of the game – with 5:06 remaining but managed just one shot on goal. St. Olaf got sophomore goaltender Baylyn Shankman off the ice with 1:14 to go but could not generate a shot.

Shankman made 15 of her 29 saves on the night in the third period for the Oles, while Jordan O'Kane made six saves in each period for the Falcons.

St. Olaf will return to Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) play with a series against St. Catherine University on Thursday and Friday, Dec. 4-5. Puck drop at for the series opener is set for 6 p.m. at St. Olaf Ice Arena.