Solid Effort Comes Up Short

By Pat Rupp

The Tigers rebounded from a disappointing performance in a season-opening loss to Lakeville South last Saturday but still came up short in a 2-1 South Suburban Conference defeat at the hands of Apple Valley Tuesday night at the Apple Valley Sports Arena.

“It was undoubtedly better than the first game,” Tiger coach Jon Holmes said. “We had plenty of chances and we had a better work ethic. The game didn’t go our way, but the effort level was much better.”

Just as in the first game, Farmington took an early lead. Brenna Fuhrman, who was recently named to the 18-under team that will represent the United States in a tournament in Europe over the holidays, scored an even-strength goal just 4:18 into the game to give the visitors a leg up.

The lead didn’t last long, however, as the Eagles knotted the score two minutes later on a goal from Mandy Moran.

The Tigers never found the net again and Apple Valley’s Lily Leong provided the game winner at 10:24 of the second period on the power play.

Farmington more than had its chances, however. The Tigers had 17 shots on goal over the final two periods but none escaped Eagle netminder Keni Allen.

“We didn’t score but we had a plethora of  2-on-1’s and odd-man rushes and even a couple of breakaways that we will certainly capitalize on as the season goes on,” Holmes said. 

“Apple Valley is a solid team but we certainly feel like we dropped one we shouldn’t have,” Holmes said. “But we have a process and we made progress on that process as we learn and work to get to a better place down the road.”

Valley finished with a 24-23 edge in the shots on goal department with Tiger goalie Ryleigh Furlong finishing with 22 saves for a .917 save percentage.

One area where Holmes was especially encouraged was the play of his third line of Ava Johnson, Kenna Kadrlik and Abby Gehrke.

“They looked wonderful,” he said. “I was very pleased to see how they thumped the entire game, playing solid position and making positive contributions. Now we just need to get our scorer’s going.”

Holmes is hoping the offense will start to hum on Saturday when state-rated Maple Grove invades Schmitz-Maki Arena for a matinee game. Faceoff is set for 3:00.

“I think the biggest thing for this team is finding its identity over the next few weeks,” Holmes said. “We lost two captains from last year and they were the heartbeat of the team. We are just beginning to find that identity this year.”