The Luverne girls’ hockey team welcomed section foe Mankato East to Luverne for an afternoon tilt Saturday, Dec. 11, at the Blue Mound Ice Arena.
The Cardinals took an early lead and never looked back on their way to a 5-2 win. The victory moves Luverne to 7-1 on the season
Luverne senior Billi Connell, a Division 1 Gopher softball commit, got the girls started just 5:42 into the first period.
She buried a rebound goal past Cougar goalie Anna Rader with the assist going to Macie Edstrom to give the Cardinals an early lead.
As in pretty much every period and game this year, it was only a matter of time before junior Kamryn Van Batavia would put one on the scoreboard at the BMIA. She found the back of the net with an unassisted goal with 4:26 left in the second period.
The Cardinals took a two-goal lead into the first period intermission with a 13-7 advantage in the shots on goal category.
Payton Behr gave the Cardinals a three-goal lead just over 5 minutes into the second period.
The Cardinals got another goal from Van Batavia to take a
commanding 4-0 lead midway through the period.
But Mankato East wasn’t ready to roll over. Mckenzie Keller beat Luverne goalie Cheyenne Schutz to bring the game within three for Mankato East.
The final five minutes of the second period were scoreless for the Cardinals and Cougars, with Luverne bringing a 4-1 lead into the third period.
Schutz had six saves in the period and shots on goal were 10-7 in favor of the Cardinals.
Connell started the third period beating Rader a mere 1:10 into the period to bring Luverne’s lead back to 5-1.
Mankato East Ava Tibodeau would cut the lead to 2-5 with a goal late in the third period, and that’s all the Cougars would get with the Cardinals notching another victory Saturday.
Schutz finished with an impressive 26 saves in the game, and the Cardinals with a 31 to 28 shot advantage.
The Lady Cardinals were set to host Windom on Tuesday, Dec. 14, before hitting the road to play Austin Friday, Dec. 17, and Rochester Mayo Saturday, Dec. 18.