Austin defeats Worthington 3-2 in girls hockey overtime thriller
Dec. 6—WORTHINGTON — Worthington's girls hockey home opener against Austin ended in dramatic fashion Tuesday night.
An overtime goal won the game for Austin and denied the Trojans their first win of the season.
The two teams were deadlocked at 2-2 heading into the eight-minute extra period. After nearly seven and a half minutes, it looked like the game would remain tied after overtime, but a Packer goal with 33.1 seconds left sent the road team into celebration.
After the first 17 minutes, the Trojans took a lead with 10:47 left when senior center Marin Pederson raced down the ice and scored an unassisted goal. Throughout the period, the Trojans were able to hold on to that 1-0 lead thanks to being able to keep possession of the puck and defense interrupting some Austin scoring chances.
"The girls were passing the puck well and obviously we played more offense than we did defense in the first period," said Trojans head coach Chad Nickel.
But the biggest reason why Worthington held on to that lead and why they stayed in the game throughout was the performance of eighth-grade goalie Macie Mahlberg.
"Hands down, Macie kept us in this game from the beginning to the end," Nickel said. "She holds hers and if it wasn't for her, the game would be completely different..."
Austin got on the board early in the second period with 14:10 left on a goal from Peyton Squier to tie the game at 1-1. Only a couple of minutes later, Austin struck again with a Brenna Haedt goal, her first of two on the night.
In the rest of the second period and throughout the third period, Worthington's defense again came up big, with strong defensive efforts from defenders Peyton Nickel, Sadie Nickel and Leah Nelson. Mahlberg also continued to impress after letting those two shots get by her. Even when a few power play opportunities arose for Austin, the Trojans held firm, not allowing Austin's 2-1 lead to grow any further.
While the Trojans stopped many scoring chances, they couldn't generate a whole lot of them themselves. The few times they did though, they capitalized on them.
"You have to make the shot count and obviously we didn't get a whole lot of shots," Nickel said. "But obviously two out of the six made it happen."
One of those times came with 9:57 left in the final period when eighth-grade forward Breeta Johnson stole the puck and found sophomore forward Addison Joens down the ice for the game-tying goal. The rest of the period remained a stalemate, despite many last-second shots on goal from Austin, who closed the period on a power play. But Mahlberg saved them all and the game was heading to an extra period.
The stalemate continued in overtime with Worthington trying to generate some scoring chances. They couldn't deliver though and Austin continued to, for the most part, dominate possession. The Trojans were nearly able to get out of overtime without allowing a goal, but Haedt's second goal for the Packers clinched them the game.
Up next for Worthington is a Big South Conference showdown with Windom Area at home on Thursday.
Austin 0 2 0 1 — 3
Worthington 1 0 1 0 — 2
