The River Lakes Stars girls' hockey team hosted Willmar at the Richmond Arena on Tuesday, Dec. 5. The Stars played hard and had good positioning but were unable to come out on top. The Stars lost 9-0.
The Stars had a slow start, which let Willmar beat the Stars to the puck numerous times. Willmar scored two times in the first period.
The Stars started to pick up speed in the second period, which led to good defensive and offense opportunities.
Laurie Barten of Paynesville controls the puck and looks to pass Friday night against Sartell-Sauk Rapids.
The Stars' speed was not enough to stop Willmar from scoring three more times in the period.
The Cardinals scored four times in the third period. Crystal Songetay got on the ice to play goalie in the final period after Trisha Wendlandt made 24 saves.
Songetay said, "I wasn't quite as nervous about playing this time, and I am also glad that I didn't have to depend on the defense as much."
The Stars were unable to score throughout the game, but coach Tom Petroski said, "The Willmar game was one of our most competitive of the season. After a slow start, the team did a nice job both offensively and defensively. The final score was not indicative of our team's overall play."
The Stars are 0-5-1 overall.
The Stars played a game yesterday at the Koronis Civic Arena against Litchfield.
They will have an away game on Thursday, Dec. 14, at St. Cloud Tech at 7:30 p.m. They will host Brainerd on Tuesday, Dec. 19, in Richmond.
| Willmar-- | 2 | 3 | 4 | - 9 |
| River Lakes-- | 0 | 0 | 0 | - 0 |
First Period: Goals (assists): W-Gretchen Dahl (unassisted); W- Danielle Dahl (unassisted).
Second Period: Goals: W-Alyssa Dahl (Tessa Sheehan, D. Dahl); W- Mandy Samuelson (unassisted); W- Megan Duevel (Lindsey Convoy, Sheehan).
Third Period: Goals: W-Sara Lohrman (unassisted); W-Kali Gravgaard (A. Dahl); W-Irene Zeug (Convoy, Sheehan); W-A. Dahl (Samuelson, Kirby Nielsen).
Sartell/Sauk Rapids 3
River Lakes 1
The Stars came ready to play on Friday against Sartell/Sauk Rapids. The Stars skated hard; however, the Stars lost 3-1.
The Stars were proud that they outshot Sartell/Sauk Rapids 25-23.
The River Lakes were unable to get off many shots in the first period due to poor communication.
Sartell/Sauk Rapids scored two times in the first period due to covering errors by the Stars.
Later in the first period, the Stars' co-captain, Marya Losinski, scored on a great breakout by skating past three defenders to make the score 2-1.
The River Lakes outshot Sartell/Sauk Rapids 13-10 in the second period, but were unable to stop Sartell/Sauk Rapids from scoring another goal in the period.
The River Lakes worked hard and had some close calls but were unable to get the puck past Sartell/Sauk Rapids' goalie again, even on a power play.
Neither team scored in the third period.
Wendlandt had a good game with 20 saves in goal.
Assistant coach Jim Caron said, "The team is improving greatly, and we can only go up from here."
| Sartell/Sauk Rapids-- | 2 | 1 | 0 | - 3 |
| River Lakes-- | 1 | 0 | 0 | - 1 |
First Period: Goals (assists): SR- Jamie Schmitz (unassisted); SR- Stephanie DeBettignies (Brittany Beck); RL- Marya Losinski (unassisted).
Second Period: Goals: SR-Beck (DeBettignies).
Third Period: Goals: no scoring.