Goblirsch Hat Trick Keys Win over Metro South

By Pat Rupp

Farmington tuned up for Tuesday’s non-conference game with top-ranked Minnetonka with a workmanlike 4-1 South Suburban Conference win over Metro South Saturday afternoon at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The victory was the third in a row for the Tigers and their eighth in nine tries this season.

Jenna Goblirsch led the way for the winners, posting her second hat trick of the year. Goblirsch leads the team in goals (11) and points (16).

Farmington dominated from the outset against the cooperative program centered in Burnsville.

The Tigers set the tone early with an 18-shot first period that included two Goblirsch scores, the first on assists from Amelia Goblirsch and Kennedy Meier and the second from Norah Kratz and Morgan Mitchell.

The shot differential swelled to 33-11 after two periods but the score was still stuck on 2-0 with a period to play.

Even though the shot-fest continued into the final period with 28 more by the Tigers, the home team lead just 2-1 midway through the third. It took Taylor Risch’s unassisted score and Goblirsch’s empty-netter to provide the final spread.

“We were dealing with some health issues, but I thought we did a good job of players adjusting to new combinations and still finding a way to dominate play,” coach Jon Holmes said.

“You can see by the numbers (61-21 shots on goal advantage) we controlled the play, but we were still off a tick offensively just like we were in the previous game at Eagan.”

Tiger goalie Addison Moudry earned her fourth win of the season against a single loss, stopping 20 of the 21 shots she faced. In doing so, the junior netminder lowered her goals against average to 2.18 and raised her save percentage to .910.

Holmes is hoping his team will be at full strength Tuesday when it makes the trip to Pagel Arena in Minnetonka to take on the top-ranked and once-beaten Skippers.

“We’ll need absolutely everything we have to stay with them,” Holmes said. “We know them from summer and pre-season play, and this will give us a good opportunity to help us identify areas where we need to improve as we prepare for the second half of our conference season and the playoffs.”