The UW-Eau Claire women’s hockey team fell to UW-Stevens Point 3-2 after a back-and-forth battle on Saturday at Hobbs Ice Center.

The Blugolds got on the board first with the first goal scored by Blugold senior Emily Larson almost 10 minutes into the first period.

Blugold head coach Mike Collins said the team played hard the entire game and presented a challenge to the top team in the conference.

“We played as well tonight, as we have in a long time,” Collins said.

Both continued to be closely matched with neither taking a significant lead throughout. But Stevens Point freshman Kendall Nelson scored with three minutes left, ending the period with a 1-1 tie.

Neither team scored until the end of the second period, when Eau Claire came back into the lead with a breakaway goal by senior Nikki Kothenbeutel.

Kothenbeutel said despite not getting the result they wanted, it was still one of the best games of their year.

“It felt good to work hard and know that we can compete with one of the best teams in the conference,” Kothenbeutel said.

Stevens Point rallied quickly with a goal from senior Megan Nickelson with under three minutes left in the second period.

Both teams spend the third period again battling frantically for the lead, and Stevens Point finally scored 12 minutes into the period with a goal by senior Cassandra Salmen, bringing the game to a 3-2 end.