By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ hockey team was involved in a shootout with Mankato East during the home debut for the Cardinals at the Blue Mound Ice Arena Tuesday, Nov. 25.The Cardinals and ME scored a combined 15 goals in a wild game that ended with the visiting Cougars securing an 8-7 victory.Luverne junior Natalie Domagala turned in a five-point performance by scoring four goals and recording one assist.ME, however, received three goals from Maggie Duff and a pair of counters from Nicole Neudecker to win the battle.Luverne sported 4-3 and 5-4 advantages in the second period, but the Cougars ended the game with a 4-2 run to settle the issue.Senior Taylor Nelson gave the Cards their last lead at 5-4 when she scored during a power-play situation after being set up by Natalie Morgan.East countered with goals by Neudecker, Amanda Nielson and Duff in a 2:09 span late in the second period to take a 7-5 advantage into the third period.Mankato extended its lead to three goals (8-5) when Katie Medd scored 42 seconds into the third period before Domagala capped her four-goal effort with a pair of counters to wrap up the scoring.Domagala netted an unassisted goal at 11:13 of the third period and added an unassisted, power-play goal with 6:15 left to make it an 8-7 game.Mankato received goals from Karissa Davis and Nuedecker in the first 9:43 of the game before Sadie Dietrich cut the difference in half at 2-1 with an unassisted goal at the 8:09 mark of the stanza.Duff scored her first goal of the game with 7:36 left in the first period to make it a two-goal difference, but Domagala scored an unassisted goal at 4:45 before setting up a counter by Onnie Drost at 3:05 to knot the score at three.Domagala scored a power-play goal after being set up by Jenny Braa at the 9:05 mark of the second period to give the Cards their first lead at 4-3.East countered with a goal by Duff to tie the game four moments later.Mankato outshot the Cardinals 34-17 in the game.Sarah Schneekloth made 26 saves in goal for LHS.The 0-2 Cardinals host Marshall tonight before playing the Sioux Falls Blue in Sioux Falls Tuesday.
