The UW-Eau Claire women’s hockey team lost against home team UW-Stevens Point on Jan. 27 by a score of 2-1.

At 10:54 into the first period, Eau Claire player Erin Goodell shot a goal into the back of the net with joint assist from Claudia Gagnon and Jennifer Thomsen.

The pointers then would tie up the game as Allison Karrman slapped the puck into the back side of the goal.

As the game progressed, Pointer Cara Lemirande pulled ahead with a shot at 16:15 in the second half which brought the Pointers up by one. In this period, the Blugolds out-shot the Pointers 9-5.

In the third round, Eau Claire would have the advantage in shots but neither team would score. The shot score was 9-4, with the Blugolds once again leading.

At the end of the game, Eau Claire outshot the Pointers 28-23.

Overall, Eau Claire has won a total of 14 games and lost six. Out of the games they’ve won, the conference games have been the most important in terms of placement in the conference tournament.

Head coach Eric Strand said he was very impressed with the way his team played that night, even if they didn’t play to their full potential.

“Overall, we played really well,” Strand said. “We reviewed the tape especially. I saw a lot of things that we did really well. We weren’t ourselves. We have more to give than what we showed that night. They’ve done such a great job of raising expectations that we have of them that nights we play really good, doesn’t cut it anymore. We made three mistakes that night and two of them ended up into the back of the net.”

Continuing the season, Strand said he has high expectations for his team.

“I am really happy with how our team is playing right now,” he said. “That’s the first game since we were back from break that we gave up more than one goal, which is fairly extraordinary for how young our team is.”

This is the first game out of three that Eau Claire will play against Stevens Point. Stevens Point is an important team because they are a part of the Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC).

“We play Stevens Point Friday and Saturday so we are going to become very familiar with each other,” Strand said. “It’s a good chance it’s the team we see in the playoffs. We could be playing them four out of our next six games. I just want us to play our game. I just want us to play not just really good, but executing on all of our systems. It’s not that we played bad, it’s just we didn’t play to our potential. I am excited to see how the team will play next week with their full potential.”

Eau Claire will be playing at away against Stevens Point on Friday, Feb. 3 at 7 p.m., and Saturday, Feb. 4 at 7 p.m. at Hobbs Ice Arena in Eau Claire for the the alumni game.