M&M Combo Lead in Shutout Win over Eagan

By Pat Rupp

Senior Sam Moehle scored her team-high 13th goal of the year and freshman goalie Addison Moudry turned away all 17 Eagan shots as the Tigers eked out a 1-0 South Suburban Conference over the Wildcats Thursday night at Eagan Civic Arena.

Moehle’s score came just 3:38 into the first period after which the Tigers peppered the Wildcat goal with 28 shots in 47:22 but none found its target.

“This was a good old-fashioned, gritty win,” Farmington coach Jon Holmes said. “It’s the type of win that you sometimes need in hockey when you’re not being rewarded on the offensive end…In this game we were rewarded for what we did on the defensive side.”

Moehle’s score came after she walked the puck in from the corner, beat a couple of defenders and put a nifty deke on the Eagan goaltender. Sisters Madison and Kenna Kadrlik assisted on the game’s lone score.

Holmes said his team’s inability to dent the scoreboard the rest of the way was hard to figure out.

“We were literally laughing about it on the bench,” he said. “We dominated play at both ends and had chance after chance after chance. We hit pipes and crossbars and had so many near misses.”

Despite the lopsided 31-16 final shots on goal numbers, in the end it came down to Moudry and a feisty defense doing their jobs.

The shutout was the second in three outings for Moudry and the Tiger defense. Farmington blanked Prior Lake 5-0 last Thursday before losing a low-scoring 2-1 verdict to Eastview on Saturday.

“Addison (Moudry) played solidly and is starting to look more and more comfortable every game,” Holmes said. “When we needed it most it was our work in the defensive end that got us the win.”

The victory eased the Tigers back above .500 for the season at 5-4. They are 4-3 in the South Suburban Conference standings, good enough for fourth place, heading into Saturday afternoon’s home match-up with fifth place Burnsville. The Blaze are 4-4-1 overall and 3-2 in the conference.

Faceoff is 3:00 p.m. at Schmitz-Maki Arena.