By Mark HaugenThe road wasn’t kind to the Luverne girls hockey team last week as they dropped two games.The Cardinals lost 6-1 to Mankato West on Saturday and were edged 6-5 by Marshall.Luverne fell to 6-5 overall and 2-1 in the Southwest Conference. The Cardinals will compete in the Sertoma Shootout in Dodge Dec. 27-29.Mankato West 6, Luverne 1Shots on goal were few and goals were even fewer as the Cardinals dropped a road game.Luverne managed only six shots in the first period to West’s 22, and the drought continued into the second period when the Cardinals had only four. They finished the game with 19 shots and Mankato West peppered the goal with 57. Luverne goalie Sarah Schneekloth stopped 51 of them.After a scoreless first period, West scored first, hitting the net 3:26 into the second period. Luverne’s Natalie Domagala answered with an assist from freshman Stephanie Steensma about three minutes later. But it was all Mankato after that.Mankato went ahead with a late goal in the second and added four more in the third for the victory.Marshall 6, Luverne 5The Cardinals had three third-period goals but came up one short in the Southwest Conference match.Domagala put Luverne on top first with an unassisted power-play goal at 13:48 of the first period, but Marshall responded with three goals in the period.Domagala pulled the Cardinals within 3-2 with an assist from Sadie Dietrich at 9:59 of the second. Marshall came back with a goal at 3:09 to go into the break ahead 4-2.Domagala hit her the hat trick with a goal to open the third, but Marshall iced the win with two more goals of their own.Luverne’s comeback fell short as Dietrich scored twice on Domagala assists later in the third.Schneekloth stopped 37 shots.
