Luverne seventh-grader Sarah Schneekloth smothers a shot by Northfield’s Carly Otto during Tuesday’s Section 1A Girls’ Hockey Tournament game in Luverne. Schneekloth stopped 15 of 16 shots in net for the Cardinals, who advanced to the event’s quarterfinals by defeating the Raiders 6-1. Luverne will host another tournament game 7 p.m. Saturday.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ hockey team opened the Section 1A Tournament by posting a five-goal win over Northfield at the Blue Mound Ice Arena Tuesday.Prior to starting the tournament, the Cardinals capped a 16-2-1 regular season by skating to a six-goal victory over Morris-Benson Saturday in Benson.Luverne will host either No. 5 LeSueur-Henderson-St. Peter or No. 12 Fairmont during the section quarterfinals 7 p.m. Saturday in Luverne.Luverne 6, Northfield 1The Cardinals scored five goals in the first period and coasted to a five-goal victory when they entertained the Raiders for the section opener Tuesday.Luverne’s Natalie Domagala scored four goals to raise her career total to 195 tallies. A five-goal effort in the section quarterfinals would give her 200 for her career.Sadie Dietrich, who scored twice, received assists for three of Domagala’s goals against Northfield.Dietrich opened the scoring 1:02 into the game with an unassisted effort before setting up Domagala’s first tally of the game 2:54 later.Domagala netted an unassisted goal at 9:13, and received an assist along with Jenny Braa for a power-play goal by Dietrich at 7:53.Domagala completed a hat trick with 15 seconds remaining in the opening period. Dietrich picked up an assist for the goal.Luverne led 6-0 when Domagala scored a second-period goal with an assist going to Dietrich.Northfield’s Maren Dorvak capped the scoring with a counter in the third period.Sarah Schneekloth made 15 saves in 16 tries in net for LHS. Luverne had 36 shots on goal.Luverne 9, M-B 3The Cardinals completed a 16-2-1 regular season by defeating Morris-Benson by six goals in Benson Saturday.Domagala turned in an eight-goal, nine-point performance to lead the Cardinals to victory. Four of Domagala’s goals were unassisted tallies.M-B led 1-0 when Tessa Miller scored 1:58 into the game, but Domagala scored two unassisted goals before the first period was complete to give the Cards a 2-1 edge.Dietrich, who had two assists and one goal in the game, set up a goal by Domagala 7:40 into the second period before Domagala netted an unassisted goal during a short-handed situation to make it a 4-1 game.Dietrich scored with an assist going to Domagala 19 seconds into the third period to make it a 5-1 game before M-B’s Tiffany Thymian scored twice in a span of 42 seconds to make it a 5-3 difference.Domagala then settled the issue by scoring four straight goals in a span of 3:24. One of the final goals was unassisted. Dietrich, Chessa Ossefoort and Andrea Drost each received one assist for Domagala’s other goals in the third period.Schneekloth made 19 saves in 22 attempts as Luverne’s goalie. The Cards had 33 shots on goal.
