Tigers’ Late Season Surge Continues

by Pat Rupp

After the first eight games of the 2020-2021 season Farmington was sitting on a 2-5-1 record and seemingly locked into the bottom half of the South Suburban Conference standings. Fast forward to the first week in March and the picture looks entirely different.

With back-to-back wins over Rosemount and Section 1AA rival Lakeville South last week the Tigers have now won six of their last seven games and moved all the way up to fourth place in the 10-team league rankings. They are two games over the.500 mark for the first time this season at 8-6-1 and are making a big push toward post-season play.

Farmington 8 Rosemount 3

Farmington, a 3-0 winner over the Irish when the teams squared off earlier in the season in Rosemount, led only 3-1 after two periods in the rematch Thursday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena before exploding for five scores in a hectic final 17 minutes of play.

Sam Moehle scored two first period goals for the winners. Sadie Long and Jayden Seifert assisted on the first goal; Carly Lancaster on the second. The Tigers led 2-1 after one period.

Brenna Fuhrman provided the only scoring of the second period with a power play goal on an assist from Seifert.

Long and Lancaster each scored twice in the final period and Moehle completed her hat trick in the second most productive period of the season for the Tigers. Farmington netted six goals in the first period of a 9-3 rout of Lakeville North early in the year.

Moehle also had a pair of assists in the third period score-fest as did Lancaster, Seifert and Liv Helleson. Long also added an assist to her night’s point total.

Moehle finished with five points while Lancaster, Long and Seifert totaled four apiece. Fuhrman and Helleson each had two.

Eighth-grade goaltender Addison Moudry made her first varsity start a memorable one, stopping 16 of 19 shots to earn the win.

Farmington 1 Lakeville South 0

Sam Moehle provided the game-winner with a shorthanded goal at16:39 of the third period of a hotly contested contest Saturday afternoon at Hasse Arena in Lakeville.

The victory gives Farmington a leg up on its section archrival. The teams tied 2-2 earlier in the season and chances are good they could meet again in the playoffs.

The game was marred by a rash of penalties, 12 for 46 minutes in all, including nine for 40 minutes in the third period. That total included two five-minute majors and a pair of misconduct infractions, one on each team.

The game was as close on the stat sheet as it was on the ice with the Cougars holding a one-shot advantage in shots on goal, 26-25.

Senior Ryleigh Furlong was back between the pipes for Farmington, posting her seventh win of the season with a 26-save effort. The shutout was Furlong’s fourth of the year and lowered her goals-against average to 1.96.

The Tigers close out their regular season with a busy three-game week: Tuesday at Apple Valley; Thursday versus Shakopee and Saturday afternoon at Eastview.