In the Sectional 4 Final of the state tournament playoffs in Beaver Dam on Saturday afternoon, the number 3 seed, the University School Co-op girls hockey team, lost to the top-seeded Capital City Co-op of Sun Prairie 2-0.
It was a long drawn-out afternoon because of an unfortunate injury and because of poor planning and Zamboni problems at the Beaver Dam Family Center.
The actual hockey game was quite good. It was a defensive battle, particularly in the first two periods during which the Cougars’ senior goalie Jenna Beilke-Skoug and USM’s sophomore goalkeeper Emily Wigdale prevented every shot on net from going past them. The defenders in front of them kept the shooters to the outside and cleared rebounds quickly. Each team also killed several penalties, and USM stopped a 5-on-3 power play in the second period.
As a consequence, the tension was high and the score was as low as it could be, 0-0, entering the third period.
Each team knew that the each goal scoring opportunity in the third period would be extremely important and one goal would likely decide the game. Sun Prairie made the most of an early opportunity and scored the tie-breaking goal. Coming out of the Sun Prairie end, freshman Maddy Vincent passed the puck ahead to freshman Jamie Henderson. Henderson skated into the USM zone, cut to her right and from the low circle zipped a shot over the right shoulder of Wigdale at 3:04 of the third period.
The Wildcats tried valiantly to score, but they missed chances, and Beilke-Skoug made some key third period saves. Then late in the period, Sun Prairie added another goal to secure their win. Vincent picked off an errant pass in the USM end and fired a quick shot high into the USM net at 13:44. Henderson was given an assist on the play.
In the game, Beilke-Skoug made 23 saves and Wigdale made 25 saves.
Sun Prairie moves on to the state tournament in Madison. USM’s season came to an end. The Wildcats ended 2010-2011 with a 16-11 record.
