The Raiders' lone shot on goal in overtime was all they needed.

“I don’t really remember it at all,” Puppe admitted. “It was scary, but I knew we could do it. We pulled it off.”

Northfield beat Lakeville South 4-2 in the regular season on Nov. 18 in Northfield in a game that played out similarly to Thursday despite the differences in score.

The Cougars won shots on goal 33-16 in the first meeting and had a 36-10 advantage in the second one.

Northfield erased a 2-0 deficit after one period on Nov. 18, but the Raiders had the benefit of never trailing in the rematch.

That’s courtesy of junior defender Lucy Boland, who scored just 1 minute, 32 seconds into the first period. Senior goalie Maggie Malecha was credited with an assist.

Lakeville South had a power play try later in the first period, but soon after it expired, the Cougars got their counter with a goal by freshman forward Josie Grossman with 4:01 remaining in the first. Senior defender Anika Mader and sophomore forward Brynn O’Neill assisted.

The score remained frozen until overtime thanks to in large part to Malecha. She made 35 saves, including several glove saves to limit a potent Lakeville South offense averaging over five goals per game.

“She’s up for Ms. Goalie,” Northfield coach Paige Haley said of the St. Thomas-bound Malecha. “She’s legit. She’s real. I’m glad she got this because it proves she’s as good as she is.”

Future Wisconsin Badger and Ms. Hockey top-10 finalist Claire Enright was held without a point after accruing 75 this season.

Several Lakeville South players reached out to Malecha during the postgame award ceremony to show their respect. She and the Raiders are responsible for two of the Cougars’ three losses on the season.

"They did everything we asked them to except for putting the puck in the net," Lakeville South coach Tim Morris said. "Defensively, we played great. They scored on a couple pretty decent shots. You’re not going to win many hockey games when you put 36 shots on net and only score one."

Morris and company had a feeling they weren't going to be able to waltz to the net against a defense holding foes to 1.46 goals per game. Anything past Malecha was going to be earned.

"We were telling them, any goals we score are going to be ugly, dirty goals that you’re going to have to work hard for," Morris said. "But we had other opportunities where we had clean shots at spaces on the ice our better players should be putting them on net. We had too many shots high and wide."

Puppe remembers sitting in the stands at Xcel Energy Center to watch sister, Brynn, play on the 2016-17 team that went 1-1 at state. She relishes the opportunity to have her turn on the ice as the Raiders make their third state tournament appearance in school history.

“It’s amazing, because my sister went four years ago,” Puppe said. “Now I get to do it.”