Auge’s 38 Saves Help Tigers Forge 1-1 Tie with North

by Pat Rupp

Farmington goaltender Emily Auge stopped 38 of 39 shots to help the Tigers grind out a 1-1 overtime tie with Lakeville North in a South Suburban Conference battle Tuesday night at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

“I think both teams will feel like they had the opportunities to win this one, and that is probably what makes it a pretty good tie,” Tiger coach Jon Holmes said. 

“I thought our girls played tough. We were definitely nervous and it was very apparent in our own zone tonight. On pucks we would normally gather and get a head up to look for a breakout pass we were swatting and sending them out to their point.”

The Panthers outshot the Tigers 11-4 in the first period but didn’t net their only goal of the night until Morgan Manes (from Maggie Flaherty) scored on a breakaway with 1:55 remaining in the opening frame.

Auge kept North off the board the rest of the way, turning away 27 consecutive shots on net.

“Emily played extremely well tonight,” Holmes said. “She looked composed and limited her rebounds.”

Ellie Moser provided the only Farmington goal of the contest 37 seconds into the second period. The score was Moser’s team-leading 12th of the season and her sixth in the last two games.

Both teams had chances through the remainder of regulation and the eight-minute overtime session, but neither could find the back of the net.

A bright spot for Farmington was the return to the ice of co-captain Maddi Oines and Megan Bernu. Both starters had been out with injuries.

“They were both able to log quite a few minutes,” Holmes said. “It was good to see them get back into the swing of things and although it took a little bit of time for us to get used to playing with different lines, we did a nice job of adjusting after a weak first period.”

Holmes especially liked the contributions of his third line and the gritty individual play of junior Kenna Cavanaugh.

“Kenna might be one of the only players in the conference that willingly goes out to block the heavy-handed shots coming from the North defense,” he said.

The tie left Farmington with an overall mark of 3-2-2; 2-2-2 in South Suburban Conference play.

Friday the girls return to the Schmitz-Maki ice for another South Suburban match-up, this one with Apple Valley. The puck drops at 7:30.