Luverne defenseman Marissa Frakes (10) dives to tip a shot by Windom’s Kari Schwecke during Thursday’s girls’ hockey game at the Blue Mound Ice Arena. The Cardinals beat the Eagles 9-2 to win the Southwest Conference championship.By John RittenhouseThe Luverne girls’ hockey team ran its record to 13-2-1 after reeling off three consecutive home victories since last Thursday.The Cardinals won the Southwest Conference championship by defeating Windom by seven goals in Thursday. Luverne nipped Mankato West by one goal Saturday before routing Fairmont by eight goals Tuesday.Luverne will play for an undefeated SWC season in Worthington Tuesday.Luverne 8, Fairmont 0Sarah Schneekloth recorded a shutout in net and Natalie Domagala and Sadie Dietrich both registered hat tricks during Tuesday’s home win over Fairmont.Schneekloth stopped all 15 shots she faced in goal for the Cards. Domagala and Dietrich scored three goals each to highlight a 32-shot-on-goal offensive performance by the hosts.Stephanie Steensma scored an unassisted goal during a short-handed situation to give the Cards a 1-0 lead in the first period before Dietrich scored after being set up by Domagala to make it 2-0 as the period progressed.Luverne iced the game with a five-goal second period.Dietrich scored her second goal of the game, an unassisted effort during a short-handed situation, to open the scoring spree in the second stanza.Taylor Nelson made it 4-0 after being set up by Chessa Ossefoort, and Domagala followed with three unassisted goals to make it a 7-0 game at period’s end.Dietrich capped the scoring with an unassisted goal in the third period.Luverne 3, MW 2The LHS girls never trailed during a one-goal victory over Mankato West during Saturday’s game in Luverne.Domagala netted a pair of short-handed goals at the 14:48 and 3:06 marks of the first period to give the Cards a 2-0 lead they would never relinquish.MW cut Luverne’s lead in half (2-1) when Amber Umhoefer scored 1:28 into the second period, but Luverne’s Natalie Morgan netted a power-play goal at 16:13 of the third period after being set up by Nelson and Jenny Braa to make it 3-1.West’s Emily Ramus capped the scoring with 1:16 left to play.Schneekloth stopped 12 of 14 shots in net for LHS. Luverne had 22 shots on goal.Luverne 9, Windom 2The Cardinals clinched the SWC championship after rolling to a seven-goal victory over the Eagles in Luverne Thursday.With one league loss entering the game, Windom was the only team that could have taken the title away from LHS. Luverne, however, improved its league mark to 5-0 while the Eagles slipped to 2-2 at game’s end.The scoring punch provided by Domagala and Dietrich led LHS to victory. Domagala scored three goals and notched three assists in the contest. Dietrich added three goals and two assists to the cause.Luverne’s Braa (Domagala received an assist) and Windom’s Katie MacRae exchanged goals in the first 8:01 of the game before the Cardinals reeled off eight straight goals to take control of the contest.First-period counters by Domagala (Ossefoort received an assist), Dietrich (Braa receives an assist), and Domagala (Dietrich received an assist) in a span of 2:58 gave the Cards a 4-1 lead.Luverne added four more goals in the second period to make it an 8-1 difference.Domagala set up the first goal of the stanza scored by Stephanie Steensma at 11:20, and Dietrich found the net at 6:53 with assists going to Ossefoort and Nelson. Dietrich set up a goal by Abby DeWispelaere at 5:42 before completing her hat trick with a power-play goal at 2:10. Braa and Domagala set up Dietrich’s third goal of the game.Domagala made it a 9-1 game with an unassisted effort with 13:53 left in the third period. Alex Potter countered for Windom with 2:48 remaining.Schneekloth stopped 11 of 13 shots in net for LHS. Luverne had 23 shots on goal.
