WILLMAR — The Austin High girls hockey team played Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato in Friday's first round of the Willmar Tournament and stayed unbeaten with a lopsided win.
Kennedy Thompson scored in the opening minute of the game and the Austin Packers led the whole way. Thompson went on to score three goals and her first hat trick of the season paced the Packers to a 9-2 win.
Madison Overby and Chloe Summerfield added goals later in the first period for a 3-0 lead. This was the first start of the season in goal for Mara Overby of Austin and she turned away all the shots that came her way in the first period.
"We got off to a fast start, but then for the rest of the first period the girls skated a little slow and the offense was kind of sluggish," Austin coach Denny Bray said. "In the second period, we skated hard and looked good on offense with five goals."
Carley Grunewald started the scoring fest in the second period for the Packers with a power play goal in the opening four minutes. Just a few minutes later, Thompson scored an unassisted goal for a 5-0 lead.
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Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato (1-3) finally got on the scoreboard late in the second period. Austin countered with three more goals in the final four minutes of the period.
Abby Gallaher became the fifth Austin player to score a goal and it was a 6-1 lead. Thompson then got her hat trick and Camille Anderson closed out the scoring for the Packers in the second period.
It was running time throughout the third period, but the Packers still managed to score a special teams goal. Gallaher scored a short-handed goal with seven minutes left in the game for the last Austin tally of the night.
"After the ragged start, we took good shots and had solid back-checking to put the game away," Bray said of the road win. "Mara Overby saw her first varsity action between the pipes and did a nice job. Their goals came off our defenders, so she came close to a shutout. Allison Hoban will be in goal for the title game."
Austin (3-0) plays the host Willmar Cardinals in today's championship game of the weekend tournament.
AUSTIN 9, LITCHFIELD/D-C 2
Litchfield#0#1#1#—#2
Austin#3#5#1#—#9
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First period— Austin, Kennedy Thompson (Abby Gallaher), :32. Austin, Madison Overby (Chloe Summerfield), 3:57. Austin, Chloe Summerfield (Madison Overby), 7:33.
Second period— Austin, Carley Grunewald (Gallaher, Summerfield), 3:27 (pp). Austin, Thompson, 6:52. Litchfield, Emma Lemke, 11:36. Austin, Abby Gallaher (Grunewald, Justina Talamantes), 13:10. Austin, Thompson (Gallaher, Grunewald), 14:37. Austin, Camille Anderson, 16:22.
Third period— Austin, Gallaher (Grunewald), 7:09 (sh). Litchfield, Kennedy Sommerfeld, 11:57.
Shots-on-goal— Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato 19, Austin 39.
Goalies— Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, Danielle Elam (39 shots, 32 saves). Austin, Mara Overby (19 shots, 17 saves).
Penalties— Litchfield/D-C 3-6, Austin 3-6.
