Tigers complete season sweep of Irish
by Pat Rupp
Five different players scored goals and Emily Auge recorded her second shutout of the season as the Tigers blanked Rosemount 6-0 in a South Suburban Conference contest played Saturday afternoon at the Rosemount Community Center.
Farmington (12-9-1 overall) raised its conference record to 8-7-1 with the win and defeated the Irish for the second time this season. The Tigers routed Rosemount 10-1 when the teams met at Schmitz-Maki Arena on Dec. 12.
“After beating a team 10-1 it is hard to convince players the need of playing our game and taking care of the important things, including defense,” Holmes said. “I was proud how we came out and played and very pleased with how we continued our play for all three periods.”
After a slow-paced first period in which Dani Wright’s late goal (from Taylor Anderson and Emily Rubins) provided the only scoring, the Tigers stepped up the tempo.
Marissa Agerter (from Morgan Medved and Kenzie Hauswirth) netted her 16th goal of the season and Ellie Moser (from Savanna Tucker and Rubins) chimed in with her 15th as the visitors outshot the Irish by a lopsided 18-3 count in the second period.
It was more of the same in the final stanza where the Tigers doubled up (14-7) on shots and scored three more goals in the process.
Kenna Cavanaugh notched the first on assists from Agerter and Carly Simon. The final two came off the stick of Hauswirth, her team-leading 18th and 19th of the year. Agerter and Medved assisted on the first and Hauswirth and Moser on the second.
“We continued to attack the zone, protect our end and support the play in every zone,” Holmes said.
“Rosemount has a good goalie and works very hard so despite the score and despite their record they are still a very worthy opponent. I was impressed with how they continued to hustle and compete for the entire game.”
Auge had a relatively easy time in net, facing only 13 shots in recording the whitewash. With the shutout, the first-year netminder lowered her season goals-against average to 2.80.
Six different players finished the contest with multiple points led by Hauswirth and Agerter with three apiece. Moser, Wright, Medved and Rubins each had two.
The Tigers finished the day with a three-to-one (39-13) advantage in shots on goal and also did a good job of staying out of the penalty box. Farmington had but one penalty, a harmless two-minute minor in the second period, over the 51 minutes of play.
Next on the slate is a Tuesday date with league-leading Lakeville South (16-0) at Schmitz-Maki Arena. The state-ranked Cougars have already clinched the South Suburban title.
The Tigers close out their regular season later in the week, hosting Hastings on Friday and traveling to Eagan on Saturday.
“South, Hastings and Eagan are all among the better teams in the state,” Holmes said “This will be a great jump on playoffs by getting some very real and very tough competition the week prior to post-season play.”