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Lady Stars advance in post season despite strong goalie effort

By Dustin Riese, Times Villager, 02/17/18, 3:30AM CST

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Alicia Turunen turns aside 46 shots in 3-1 loss

NEENAH – After coming off their first conference championship in program history, the Fox Cities Lady Stars earned a disappointing draw to end their season. With a week to stomach that tie, the Stars were looking to start a new as regional play opened up Friday evening at Tri-County Ice Arena.

Despite a season that featured many ups and downs, the Stars still managed to earn a No. 3 seed earning them a first-round home game for the playoffs. Their opponents would be the No. 6 Seed Northern Edge out of Rhinelander as they were looking for an upset.

Despite the Stars dominating play all game long, Northern Edge goalie Alicia Turunen was amazing in net stopping 46 shots in the game. However, the Stars managed to sneak three shots by her, which was enough to give them a hard fought 3-1 win.

“It was a hard-fought battle tonight, but we got it done,” Coach Jeff Fox said. “Give their goalie a ton credit. She was on her heels all game long and did a phenomenal job keeping her team in the game. We were fortunate to capitalize on a few more chances to pick up the win and advance.”

Looking to set the tone early, it was a complete domination from the Stars in the first period all across the board. With offense pestering Turunen with 14 shots, it was Hattie Berndt having to watch all the action as she didn’t see a single shot for the entire first period. Despite the strong offensive showing to open things up, Fox Cities was unable to capitalize as it was a 0-0 game after one period of play.

As if the second period could be better than the first, Fox Cities continued to turn up the heat adding 17 more shots on goal. However, this time one of those shots managed to sneak by as the Stars grabbed the early 1-0 lead. With a power play advantage, Fox Cities looked to take advantage.

With great puck movement from Madelynn Jablonski and Victoria Nelson the Stars had an opportunity to grab the lead. It was Alaina Schauf picking up the goal as Fox Cities grabbed the 1-0 lead six minutes into the second period. Once again, it was another terrific showing from the Stars defense as they allowed their first three shots of the game to lead 1-0 with one period remaining.

Feeling like they have left some goals on the table, the Stars knew now was not the time to let up if they wanted to advance to the next round. Just three minutes into the third period, Fox Cities was granted another powerplay as they looked to extend the lead. This time it was the combination of Jablonski and Morgan Treml leading the attack as the puck crossed into the Northern Edge end of the ice. Waiting for it was Lauryn Hull who finished it off to double the lead 2-0.

Refusing to go down quietly, Northern Edge continued to rely on Turunen in goal as she was single handedly keeping things close. Even with the offense managing to generate just 10 shots in the game, one of those shots made things a bit more interesting. With the final period approaching the half way point, Northern Edge finally got on the board as Gwen Frederickson took the Dayton Bunnell assist to cut the deficit in half 2-1 and put more pressure on the Stars offense.

Fox Cities would rise to the occasion as they continued to fire the puck toward the goal. With less than two minutes remaining and still a one goal game, the Stars were looking to deliver the knockout blow they have been longing for all game. Schauf delivered that moment off a Nelson assist for her second goal of the game in the final moments as Fox Cities advances to the next round with a well-earned 3-1 win.

WiPH Game Summaries