Girls hockey: Tiger girls earn their second straight Missota title

• Girls hockey

Farmington is Missota Conference champion once again but still has a tough road through the upcoming section tournament.
• Girls hockey

Farmington beat second-place Shakopee Friday night.

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Farmington started the season with three goals - to win the Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic, win their second straight Missota Conference title, and win the Section 1AA title.

Two goals down, one to go.

The Tigers clinched their second straight league title - and sixth in 11 years - by holding off second-place Shakopee 6-4 Friday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena. The victory improved coach Jon Holmes’ team to 10-0 in the league with two games remaining this week against Holy Angels and Northfield.

“An undefeated conference season has never happened in hockey here before,” Holmes said. “The girls realize the achievement, but at the same time they are doing a fantastic job of staying focused on the end goal of winning the section tournament.”

That third and final goal will likely prove the most difficult one to accomplish. To get through Section 1AA and earn their first state berth in three years, the Tigers will have to get by Lakeville North and Lakeville South, two South Suburban Conference teams that have already beaten them by multiple-goal scores this season. Sixth-rated Lakeville South currently has a record of 19-2-2, while Lakeville North stands at 17-5.

“We unquestionably have our work cut out for us to prepare for goal number three,” Holmes said. “With a little luck and a lot of continued hard work it should make for an interesting and fun playoff run.”

Senior Krystal Baumann’s latest hat trick propelled the Tigers to Friday night’s win.

With the score tied 3-3 early in the third period, Baumann scored two goals in a 73-second span to put the home team in control. Hannah Alexander added two goals and Haley Doll scored in the final two minutes to make it 6-4 and clinch the Tigers’ 10th win in 11 games.

Goaltender Jessica Erchul faced 31 Shakopee shots and stopped 27 of them to earn her 16th win.

A night earlier, the Tigers got all they could handle from a Hastings team they defeated 6-2 earlier this season at the Louis Schmitz Holiday Classic.

It took Alexander’s goal midway through the third period for the Tigers to escape with a 3-2 non-conference win over the Raiders.

Haleight Zwart started the scoring with a goal that tied the game at 1-1 at the 6:36 mark of the first period. Hastings led 2-1 by the time Baumann found the net for the first time 27 seconds into the second.

Erchul finished with 23 saves.

Tags: girls hockey, sports, farmington, tigers, prep