Hill-Murray girls hockey back at state after 5-2 section final victory over Stillwater
Thursday's Class 2A, Section 4 championship game became youth night at Aldrich Arena in Maplewood as Hill-Murray leaned on players barely old enough to obtain a driver's license to drive its state tournament-bound bus.
The Pioneers defeated senior-dominated Stillwater 5-2 and qualified for their first state tournament since 2020.
Senior forward Chloe Boreen scored the Pioneers' first and fifth goals. In between were goals by players representing grades 8-10.
Stillwater senior defender Josie Lang scored from the point for a 1-0 lead at 3:04 of the opening period. The Ponies (18-9-1) lead lasted five minutes. Until Boreen drew Hill-Murray even with a power-play goal. The tie score lasted for the remainder of the period because of a Stillwater goal that was first counted but then overturned by another official due to a high stick.
From that point on, Hill-Murray (24-3-1) turned to its younger players.
Freshman forward Elliana Engelhardt gave Hill-Murray a 2-1 lead at 10:30 of the second period.
A Stillwater team struggling to find the equalizer got it from Brooke Nelson, who Ponies coach Annie Cashman considers the "most underrated player in the state." Nelson, a Ms. Soccer Award finalist last fall who signed with South Dakota's soccer program, dented twine with 71 seconds to go in the period.
The Pioneers shook off the late goal by scoring the next one. Sophomore Sophie Olson put her team ahead 3-2 at 6:16 of the third period.
Eighth-grader Olivia Braunshausen bumped Hill-Murray's advantage to 4-2 a little more than two minutes later.
Hill-Murray previously downed Stillwater 4-0 on Dec. 5.
