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The Luverne High School girls’ hockey seven-game winning streak came to an end over the weekend when the Cardinals dropped an overtime loss to Mankato East on the road.
After a decisive 17-1 win over Austin at home on Dec. 6, the Cardinals lost a hard-fought game 4-3 to the Tigers in the All Seasons Arena.
The Cardinals, now 7-1, are scheduled to host Minnesota River Friday, Dec. 16, and River Lakes Stars (central Minnesota) Saturday, Dec. 17, in the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
Mankato East 4,
Luverne 3
The Cardinal girls’ hockey team traveled to Mankato Saturday, Dec. 10, to take on the Cougars, who play in the Big Nine, comprised of larger central Minnesota schools.
The Cardinals ended the day with their first loss of the season in overtime play.
“The girls played hard and controlled most of the game,” coach Tony Sandbulte said. “We made some costly mistakes and East made us pay.”
At the end of the second period Luverne was up 2-1 after scoring by eighth-grader Izzy Steensma and senior Kamryn Van Batavia.
Steensma scored in Period 1 at 3:34 assisted by Rylee Kurtz, and Van Batavia scored in the second at 12:25 assisted by Payton Behr.
In the third period at 5:36 Van Batavia scored again on a power play, assisted by sisters Payton and eighth-grader Tenley Behr.
This put Luverne up by 2, with Mankato trailing 3-1.
The Cougars, however, came back with two goals of their own in the third period to send the game into overtime with the score locked at 3-3.
In the end, Mankato’s Ava Tibodeau slid one past Cardinal goalie Mallory Von Tersch at 4:41 to clinch the win.
In the game Von Tersch stopped 25 of 29 shots from Mankato East. Luverne made three of its 49 shots on goal in the game.
Luverne 17, Austin 1
The Cardinal girls’ hockey team pelted the Austin Packers 17-1 Monday, Dec. 6, at the Blue Mound Arena.
The win extended their season record to 7-0 and kept Luverne at the top of the Big South Conference three games ahead of conference rival New Ulm.
The win was largely due to puck control and offensive pressure as two Cardinal skaters registered hat tricks in the game.
Steensma and freshman Paula Martinez each recorded three goals.
Martinez started Luverne’s scoring at 3:14 in the first period with an assist from Ella Apel.
Apel followed up scoring herself at 6:39 with an assist by Anika Boll.
Steensma, assisted by Mallory Nelson, and Greta McClure and Kamryn Van Batavia, each assisted by Macie Edstrom, finished the first period scoring one goal each.
In the second period, with Luverne leading 4-0, the Cardinals went on a scoring run to rack up nine goals by seven different players.
McClure started the run with a goal at 4:40 assisted by Steensma. Tenley Behr contributed another unassisted goal at 4:57.
Moments later, at 6:31, Martinez scored her second goal assisted by Apel.
The Austin Packers scored their lone point of the game at 8:32 when Sarah Wangen, assisted by Camille Dunlap, found the net on LHS goalie Von Tersch.
But the Luverne scoring continued soon after that with a Tenley Behr goal at 8:46 assisted by Steensma.
Payton Behr scored at 9:45 assisted by Kamryn Van Batavia and Nelson.
At 11:44 Martinez scored her third goal assisted by Nelson and Edstrom.
At 13:12 Steensma scored her second goal, followed by another from Edstrom unassisted at 14:07.
At 14:44 seventh-grader Ellie Van Batavia scored, assisted by McClure, to end the second period, Luverne 13, Austin 1.
Early in the third period at 1:19, Steensma shot her third goal unassisted.
Nelson got her lone goal at 3:20 assisted by Kamryn Van Batavia, who at 8:30 reversed the roles and scored with an assist by Nelson.
Eighth-grader Kassidy Saarloos ended the scoring at 13:30 with a powerplay goal assisted by Apel.
Luverne outplayed Austin on the ice, allowing only seven shots on Luverne’s goalie Von Tersch the entire game.
The Cardinals hammered the Packers goalie with 53 shots on goal.