It's often been said that top-ranked teams come into games with targets on their backs, figuratively speaking.
Such is life for the University School girls team, as they traveled across the state to take on the eighth-ranked Hudson Raiders in the Wisconsin Prep Hockey Girls Game of the Week Saturday afternoon at the John Gornick Arena.
USM actually played Friday evening in Richfield, MN, dropping a 2-1 decision to Academy of Holy Angels before coming back across the St. Croix River to take on the Raiders.
It took the teams a few minutes to get into the scoring column on this chilly mid-January day, but once they did, the scoreboard operator was kept pretty busy as the home team came away with a 7-4 victory.
Stellar sophomore Anna Wilgren got Hudson on the board first at the 5:20 mark when she took a pass at her right defender spot, skated in and cut across the slot, firing a shot that beat USM freshman goalie Marie Dedert high on the glove side. Sydney Hendricks had an assist for the Raiders.
It took just over seven minutes, but USM tied the game on a power play goal.
Cycling the puck down low, a pass came across to junior phenom Nicole Unsworth in the slot, and she buried the puck past the blocker of Hudson goalie Cassie Schultz to even the score. Hannah Koniar and Rachel Hoge earned assists on the goal.
That's how the period ended, with USM holding a 12-7 shot edge.
It was Hudson's turn to take advantage of a power play early in the second period.
Once again, Wilgren moved in from the point and sent a laser that went bar-down from the upper right corner of the net for the 2-1 lead. Hendricks and Taylor Beckmann got assists on the play at the 1:42 mark.
Then it was Unsworth's turn to shine on special teams.
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Playing the top of the diamond on a penalty kill, she picked off a lazy pass between the D and set sail on a breakaway, making a deke to her backhand before sneaking a forehand past Schultz for the shorty to tie the game at two midway through the period.
Continuing the alternating score pattern, Wilgren earned her hat trick after a USM penalty with just under four minutes left in the period.
Grabbing a loose puck, she skated to the slot and found that same upper corner for the unassisted power play goal to give Hudson a 3-2 lead.
Then it was the visiting team's turn, and they took less than ten seconds to tie the game.
Freshman Hannah Neudorfer found the puck on her stick after a USM face-off win at center ice. She skated down the middle and loosed a bouncing shot that eluded Schultz to tie the game just seven seconds later. Karly Lamoreaux had the assist on the play.
The Raiders (6-7-1) would get another power play goal with less than 30 seconds left in the period to give them a one-goal lead.
After a bench minor, Natalie Miller knocked in a rebound, with assists to Molly Schuett and Julia Pettee for the 4-3 lead as the teams skated off.
Hudson held a 17-12 shot edge in the middle stanza.
After University School scored to tie the game with just over ten minutes left in the final period, it was all Hudson.
Unsworth had the puck behind the net and tried a wraparound, but the shot bounced off the goalie across to the stick of Gaby Turer, who deposited the biscuit like she would a paycheck to tie the game at four each. Caitlin McBride also had an assist.
The Raiders would score three goals in a span of seven minutes to account for the final.
First, Kennedy Hendricks scored an unassisted goal at the 8:24 mark to make it 5-4. It was the sophomore's first varsity goal and the puck was retrieved as a valuable souvenir for the Hendricks trophy case.
After USM killed off 1:43 of 5-on-3 hockey, Lexie Nelson picked up the puck in the left corner, skated out to the point and cut back into the middle before launching a shot from the slot that ended up in the back of the net.
Then it was Wilgren's turn again. She found the puck in her D zone and took off down the left side, skated through two or three USM skaters and sniped the glove side from the left dot to give Hudson a three-goal lead with 1:40 left.
USM had a chance to cut into the lead, but stellar goalie play by Schultz—who was able to make saves and keep the puck out of the net despite a major pileup in front of her—kept the lead at three as the clock ticked down to 25 seconds remaining.
As the clock expired, Hudson raced out to celebrate their stunning victory over #1 USM.
Shots in the period favored USM by a huge 24-6 margin.
Schultz stopped 44 shots in a winning effort for Hudson, while Dedert had 23 saves on her end for University School (13-3-1).
