Edina’s Grace Bowlby remembers wanting to emulate Taylor Williamson’s smooth skating stride, speed and quick wrist shot.

“I wanted to be exactly like her,” Bowlby said. “Watching her from the stands, she did everything right.”

Bowlby, a sophomore defender, is now Williamson’s teammate and gets a close-up look at her role model on a daily basis.

“On the ice with her is something else,” Bowlby said. “I can’t believe some of the things that she does.”

Bowlby may not be the only one.

Williamson continued her torrid scoring pace with a hat trick against Breck and leading the Hornets to a 5-2 victory over the Mustangs Saturday at Braemar Ice Arena.

Williamson, who leads Edina with 16 goals and seven assists, moved into a tie with Rochester Century’s junior forward Frankie Mickelson for second place on the state’s season scoring list. The pair are one goal behind New Ulm junior forward Brittany Denn (17).

Williamson, however, isn’t a one-year wonder. The forward has led the Hornets in scoring since donning the green and white uniform her freshman year.

Edina coach Laura Slominski said she’s rarely surprised by Williamson’s play after watching the Edina senior improve during the last four seasons. However, Slominski is still amazed by the senior’s skills.

“(T)here are the times when you sit back afterwards and wonder how she still does some of the things she does out there,” Slominski said. 

Williamson has scored at least two goals in every game this season, with one exception: a 4-3 loss to Roseau. The Rams held Williamson scoreless and handed the Hornets their only loss of the season.

“We feel pretty good about our chances when she scores,” Slominski said.

Slominski and Edina were feeling good early in the game against Breck.

Williamson scored her first goal 2 minutes, 25 seconds into the first period as her wrist shot beat Breck goalie Jenna Brenneman, giving the Hornets a 2-0 lead. 

She followed the same formula to score 2:45 into the second period, firing another wrist shot past Brenneman to increase the lead to 3-1. 

Williamson’s final goal may have been her best, scoring a shorthanded goal at the 4:57 mark of the second period with two of her teammates in the penalty box.
She pounced on the loose puck, maneuvered her way through the Breck defense and slid a backhand shot through the five-hole of Brenneman as Edina took a 4-1 advantage.

“Our coach always tells us to be aggressive on loose pucks,” Williamson said. “So I wanted to take advantage of that, even though we were down a few players.”

Williamson was not sure if her shot went in, so her celebration was a bit subdued.

“I made sure to look behind to see if it went in all the way,” Williamson said. “I didn’t know if it was in, so I didn’t want to celebrate until I knew.”

Williamson is on pace to better her junior season, when she scored a career-high 31 goals. She is also seven goals away from reaching 100 for her career.

“It has been something to watch her play for these four years,” Slominski said. “She is our leader, both on and off the ice. She just happens to score a lot of goals for us, too.”

Senior forward Taylor Williamson scored three goals to lead Edina past Breck 5-2 at Braemar Ice Arena on Saturday.

Williamson completed the hat trick with a shorthanded goal in the second period that gave the Hornets a 4-1 lead.

Sophomore defender Grace Bowlby finished with two goals for Edina (5-1-1), ranked No. 7 in the Class 2A coaches poll.

Bowbly opened the scoring with a goal 1 minute, 40 seconds into the first period.

Williamson increased the Hornets' lead to 2-0 less than a minute later when she scored her first goal. She tallied her second goal at the 2:45 mark of the third period.

Sophomore forward Grace Zumwinkle and freshman center Gabrielle Billing each had a goal for the Mustangs (6-2-1), No. 2-1A.

Edina hosts Rosemount on Thursday, one day before Class 2A defending champions Hill-Murray comes to Braemar. Breck has a home game with Orono on Tuesday.

Spotlight Game Coverage