FAST START PROPELS TIGERS PAST LAKERS

by Pat Rupp

Freshman Bailey Kelley scored her first two career goals to help Farmington to a 5-2 South Suburban Conference win over Prior Lake Friday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The victory left the Tigers with a season and conference record of 1-1 heading into Tuesday night’s conference road match-up at Eastview.

Tiger coach Jon Holmes said he would never turn his back on a win, but added Friday night’s effort offered an equal number of plusses and minuses.

“We did not play our game and there are many aspects from this game that we will need to improve on in a hurry to compete for a top spot in this conference,” he said.

“The positives are that we saw a lot of great play in spurts from just about everyone. The negatives are that we also saw some simple blunders and moments of lack of discipline from just about everyone.”

The first two periods went smoothly enough with the home team using Bailey’s two goals and one apiece by Ellie Moser and Maddi Oines to forge a 4-0 lead. The Tigers outshot their guests by a dominant 25-13 over the first 34 minutes.

The Lakers countered with the first two scores of the third to make things interesting before Marissa Agerter netted her second goal of the young season to give her team a little breathing room and close out the night’s scoring.

Three of the five Farmington scores were unassisted. Jenna Gerold and Megan Bernu recorded the only Farmington assists of the contest.

Farmington netminder Emily Auge picked up her first win of the season by stopping 23 of 25 shots, a save percentage of .920.

“The difference between good teams and great teams is the ability to have the mental discipline and relentless attitude to hold itself accountable every shift, of every game,” Holmes said. 

“That will be a primary focus for the coaching staff, and it is also one of those lessons that I surely will hold myself accountable for in getting the right drills, philosophies, and mental preparedness into daily practices and meetings that we will need as a team to be successful.”

The puck drops for the Eastview game at 7:00 at the Apple Valley Sports Center on Tuesday night. The Tigers are then idle until after the Thanksgiving holiday when they entertain Section 1AA rival Rochester Mayo Saturday afternoon at 3:00 at Schmitz-Maki Arena.