Growing pains continue in 2-0 loss to Prior Lake

by Pat Rupp

Farmington’s early season scoring woes continued Tuesday night in a 2-0 South Suburban Conference loss to Prior Lake at Schmitz-Maki Arena.

The shutout loss dropped the Tigers’ record to 0-3. All of the defeats have come at the hand of conference opposition and all have been by the slimmest of margins.

The main problem has been offensive production. During the three-game skid Coach Jon Holmes’ squad has outshot its opponents by an 82-67 margin but has been outscored by a cumulative 8-2 count.

The Prior Lake was third verse same as the first…and second.

“We had lots of opportunities and kept them off the scoreboard other then their power play goal,” Holmes said. “Their second goal was an empty-netter at the end.”

The Lakers notched the deciding goal on the power play early in the opening period, seconds after the Tigers took their first of just two penalties for the night. Katie Huntington scored the goal on assists from Heather Olinger and Kelly Gleason.

Farmington finished with a 35-25 edge in shots on goal but none escaped Laker netminder Lindsay Lewison.

Holmes said that there’s nothing good in losing but added he still is optimistic his offense will find its mojo and start scoring like it is capable.

“I would much rather be going through these growing pains now than in the post-season,” he said. “I have nothing but confidence in our ability to find our stride and start winning games. 

“Practice this week is giving us some much-needed time to be comfortable with our lines, partners and expectations. We are spending time looking at how we can best utilize our team strengths and learning how if we don't apply them correctly, they can turn up as weaknesses.”

Holmes applauded the continued solid play of goalie Abby Bollig who finished with 23 saves against the Lakers as well as the defensive efforts of Megan Bernu and Brenna Furhman.

“They brought some much-needed spark when they were out there,” he said.

The Tigers are hoping the Thanksgiving break will help change their fortunes. Next up on the schedule is a Saturday night non-conference clash with Hopkins. Faceoff is 7:00 at Schmitz-Maki Arena.