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Danger Zoie

By MJ Hammett, 02/11/18, 5:30PM CST

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Steig scores hat trick to rally Fury past Appleton

Ok here is the situation.

Appleton United leads the Rock County Fury 3-1 in the opening minute of the third period. The Fury is whistled for two penalties including one with an extra ten minutes giving AU a 5 on 3 power play.

Doesn't look good for the Fury at that moment.

But Senior Zoie Steig had other plans.

" I knew with one of our top scorers in the penalty box for a while I wanted to step up my game and make a difference."

That she did.

Steig scored a natural hat trick in the third period of her final regular season game to lift the Fury to a 4-3 win Saturday night in Janesville.

Steig admitted before the game she had emotions about the regular season finale.

"Actually before the game I started crying knowing this was my last regular season game ever, so to get a hat trick with this team is the best feeing ever."

AU came out in the first period and took a 1-0 lead and dictated play for the most part. They opened the scoring on the power play getting a goal on a shot from the low right circle by Annika Horman.

The second period saw the Fury tie it up when Presley Kovacevich scored a goal when the puck was chipped out of the defensive zone and she took it to the net and scored.

Appleton came back exactly 2 minutes later and scored a power play goal when Courtney Koster was able to poke a loose puck in the net from the crease area. AU took the lead late in the period on a goal by Annika Horman, her second of the game. Horman picked up the puck from the left circle and fired it from the mid slot past Fury Goalie McKaylie Buescher for the dreaded 3-1 lead thru two periods.

Then Steig and her teammates went to work.

Team Captain Dani Heitsman, who finished with three assists, knew the time was now. "It was go time for us I kept telling my teammates." "We needed to stay with positivity, keep working as a team."

The first of the three goals by Steig was scored in 31 second span, and the winner was scored with 5:49 left when she gathered up a loose puck and fired it in past AU goalie Emily Fischer.

The rest of the game went back and forth with both teams hitting the others post in the final 2 minutes but Rock County held off the push from Appleton for the 4-3 win

"We started out the game playing more as individuals, but we started to play well as a team in the third period and did what we had to do to win with one in the box," said Heitsman.

The Fury finish the regular season winning 8 of their past 9 games and a 19-3-2 record and Appleton United with a 5-16-1 record. Emily Fischer in net finished with 29 saves in a very good effort, while McKaylie Buescher stopped 26 for the game.

 

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