By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ hockey team posted a win during the first round of the Dodge County Shootout in Kasson Monday.Luverne met Southwest Conference foe Worthington in the first round of the four-team, round-robin event.The Cardinals gained the upper hand in what will be a three-game series during the regular season with the Trojans by defeating Worthington 5-1.With Natalie Domagala and Sadie Dietrich leading the way, the Cardinals turned in a dominating offensive performance that featured LHS outshooting Worthington 55-20 in the game.Domagala scored two goals and notched a pair of assists during the win. Dietrich added two goals to the cause.Dietrich opened the scoring at the 6:38 mark of the first period after being set up by Domagala.Domagala made it a 2-0 game with an unassisted goal at the 3:08 mark of the second period, but Worthington’s Annie Forsburgh sliced Luverne’s lead in half (2-1) with a goal with 3:16 left in the second period.Luverne’s special teams netted three goals to put the game away in the third period.Natalie Morgan scored a power-play goal with 11:17 remaining after being set up by Taylor Nelson and Domagala.Luverne was in three-on-five short-handed situations when Dietrich and Domagala scored goals at the 7:26 and 6:53 marks of the stanza to cap the scoring.Sarah Schneekloth went the distance in net for LHS, making 19 saves in 20 attempts.The Cards were scheduled to play Dodge County Tuesday before ending the tournament with a Wednesday game against Waseca.Luverne will play Dodge County in Kasson Saturday before hosting Worthington Tuesday.
