The University School co-op girls’ hockey team lost to Appleton United 4-2 in an Eastern Shores Conference game on Saturday, January 28th at the Appleton Family Ice Center.
It was an important game that helped decide the standings in the Eastern Shores Conference and the seeding for the Eastern Shores Conference Tournament, which begins on Thursday, February 2nd. As a result of their loss, the Wildcats will be seeded fourth in the upcoming tournament. They will travel to Fond du Lac to take on the first-seed, the Fond du lac Warbirds, on Thursday. Appleton won the third seed and will play the second-seeded Bay Area Ice Bears in Green Bay on Thursday.
Jake Haury, USM’s head coach said, “Before the game, I reminded the girls about how important this game would be in the conference and told them that they needed to play their best, with the effort they gave last night against the Central Wisconsin Storm. Unfortunately, I don’t think we played our best game tonight. I just hope we can improve our efforts for our next game on Tuesday against the Lakeshore Lightning. We’ll need a good game to beat them after our loss to them last week.”
Despite playing with heart in Friday’s game against the Storm, the Wildcats only managed 13 shots. They overcame that problem quickly Saturday. The Wildcats took 12 shots in the first period alone and fired a total of 32 shots on goal in the game against Appleton. The Appleton players took 33 in the game.
Appleton was the first to get a shot into the net. On a breakout from the Appleton zone, Shelby Hitgen passed the puck ahead to Annika Horman. Horman dashed down the right boards and circled along the end boards in the Wildcats’ end. She passed the puck to the slot to Hitgen who had joined the play. The puck skipped beyond Hitgen. Defenseman Sarah Marvin rushed to it from the blue line and backhanded a shot over the glove of the Wildcats’ goaltender, Juliana Strother, at 5:25 of the first period.
The Wildcats tied the score late in the same period. Taking a faceoff in Appleton’s right circle, Karly Lamoreaux shot the puck on net. Mekenzy Hoisington, Appleton’s goalie, swept it to the left boards. Lamoreaux hustled after it, swung below the goal line, then pushed a pass out to Abby Hentzen who was all alone in the slot. Hentzen looked then fired. Her wrist shot whizzed high into the net at 14:03.
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The Wildcats took the lead midway through the second period. As they forechecked in the Appleton zone, Hentzen snagged a loose puck in the left corner and clubbed it up the boards to Lamoreaux. As Lamoreaux skated into the slot, a defender knocked the puck off her stick. It caromed to defenseman Delaney Weiss at the middle of the blue line. From there Weiss took a low shot. The puck hit the skate of a defender in the low slot and tumbled to the left. Hentzen was positioned near the goalpost. She stepped into the slot to get the puck, then swung and flung a shot past Hoisington at 8:14.
Appleton tied the score while on a power play in the final seconds of the second period. As the Appleton players moved the puck around the Wildcats’ zone, Madison Schultz got it on the right boards and sent it back to Maddie Kapheim at the near point. Kapheim took a shot. Strother saved it and turned the rebound toward the left boards. Kourtney Koster won a battle for it, skated into the circle, and fired a low shot into the net at 16:46.
Appleton scored the winning goal at 9:06 of the third period. Defenseman Liisa Cramer collected the puck deep in the Appleton zone and skated out. As she approached a defenseman in center ice, she chipped the puck off the right boards and skated past the defender to get it back. She continued into the right corner of the Wildcats’ zone, then passed the puck toward Horman who was speeding down the slot. As the puck approached her, Horman swung and bashed it past Strother for the goal.
Cramer scored the game’s final goal on another rush into the Wildcats’ zone and a quick finishing shot from the left circle at 10:57.
As a consequence of the outcome, Appleton is now 11-8-2 and 5-3 in the Eastern Shores Conference. USM is 10-9-1 and 4-3 in the conference. The Wildcats hope to avenge an overtime loss on Tuesday, January 24th when they play the Lakeshore Lightning on Tuesday, January 31st at USM. The team’s will compete in the Cancer Awareness game to help raise awareness of, and funds for, the fight against cancer. The non-conference contest is scheduled to begin at 6:00 p.m.
