The players on the University School co-op girls’ hockey team faced a tough task heading into their Eastern Shores Conference game with the Lakeshore Lightning on Friday, January 17 at USM.
Lakeshore goalie Kami McCardle was a challenge to beat, and the Wildcats knew what they had to do: put plenty of shots on net so at least a couple would get by the Lightning’s junior goalie.
The Wildcats accomplished their task, outshooting their visitors, 38-6. McCardle stopped 33 of them, but five of those shots went in the Lightning’s net, and the Wildcats celebrated their efforts by defeating their Eastern Shores Conference neighbor, 5-1.
The Wildcats and their fans also celebrated Senior Night. They honored the high school hockey careers of Faith Krajna and captain Maggie Meissner who both played for the co-op for four years.
Dan Carey, USM’s head coach commented on the evening, “It was a nice win for the girls tonight. We executed our systems really well, and it was fun to see the girls having success on Senior Night. Congratulations to Maggie and Faith on their four years of dedication and commitment to the program.”
On the ice, the Wildcats showed their commitment to the game plan. They fired 15 shots at McCardle in the first period alone. During the period, Sami Stommel, the Wildcats’ sophomore goaltender, made two of the five saves she had to make in the contest.
USM scored twice in the opening period. Junior Julia Schmidt scored the game’s first goal at 10:50 on assists by junior Jordan Bonk and sophomore Natalie Epperson.
Schmidt described the play, “This was my first goal in a varsity game. I was by the blue line, and Jordan had the puck and was skating it up towards me. I called for her to pass, which she did, and I shot. My first shot was blocked, but I regained the puck and shot it again and scored top shelf on the far-side. I was honestly incredibly surprised at first that it went in, but was insanely happy when I saw it had. It was such a good feeling to score and have all my teammates hug me after.”
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Bonk scored what would prove to be the game winner a few minutes later. In the Lightning zone, freshman defenseman Lily Valimont took a shot from the left point. The puck hit her classmate Eileen Carey and bounced to the right sideboards. Bonk captured it, wove past two defenders, then, from the lower edge of the right circle, she wired a shot high inside the far post at 15:42.
The Lightning scored their only goal with just five seconds left in the period. Senior defenseman Lauren Curtis stopped a Wildcat clearing attempt on the left side of the blueline. She took a shot. The puck hit a defender’s stick and caromed off a post and into the net to make the score 2-1 at 16:55.
The goal could have been a momentum changer, but the Wildcats said, “Not going to happen.” They scored two goals early in the second period to keep things swinging their way.
The Wildcats scored the first of these goals at 1:13. While they forechecked, junior defenseman Zoe Uihlein got the puck on the left mid-boards. She passed it to junior Zoe Neudorfer who was all alone in the high slot. Neudorfer zipped a low shot at McCardle. The rebound came out front to sophomore Molly Guenther who backhanded it in.
About five minutes later the Wildcats used a power play to increase their lead. Taking a faceoff in the left corner of the Lightning’s zone, junior Layne Diffley spun, leaving the puck sitting in the circle like it was resting on a park bench. Neudorfer stepped in and lined a shot past McCardle at 6:27.
The game was marred by several penalties in the latter moments of the second period and during the third. The Wildcats were able to add their final goal to the scoresheet early in the third period while the teams were skating even strength. Neudorfer got the puck in the left corner of the Lakeshore end, skated behind the net, and passed it out to the high slot. Meissner stepped in from the blue line and slapped a low shot on net. Neudorfer tipped it past McCardle at 2:36.
After the game, Meissner said, “This was an amazing game. It was super special since it was Senior Night and one of my last home games, so I am so glad we won. Everyone put in so much effort and played hard, and it showed. We had some great shots and worked well as a team, which led to the win.”
The loss gave Lakeshore a 5-6-2 overall record and a 1-2-1 mark in the Eastern Shores Conference. The Lightning play the Warbirds of Fond du Lac in an Eastern Shores Conference game at 7:00 p.m. on Tuesday, January 21st at the Ozaukee Ice Center in Cedarburg.
USM is now 4-7-4 and 2-0-2 in the Eastern Shores Conference. The Wildcats play the Green Bay Ice Bears in an Eastern Shores Conference game at 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, January 18th at the Cornerstone Ice Arena in Green Bay.
