IRISH UPSET TIGERS 2-1 IN OVERTIME

Two days after nearly knocking off top-rated Blake, the Farmington High girls’ hockey team suffered a disappointing 2-1 overtime loss to the Rosemount Irish on Thursday night, Jan. 17, at the Rosemount Ice Arena.  Irish defender/forward Joey Edgar was the star, scoring both goals for the home team, including the extra-time marker at 6:51 of overtime. FHS sophomore netminder Ryleigh Furlong had 29 saves in a sterling performance for head coach Jon Holmes’ club.

“Ryleigh played a solid game and gave us a chance to win, despite our lack of engagement from a skating standpoint,” said Holmes.  “We’ve had two really bad games this year, this one, and the first game against Eastview.  It was tough game and it didn’t come down to X’s and O’s but simply to energy and emotional levels. In our first game with Rosemount, we outshot them 52-17 and in this one, we had one shot on goal the entire first period.”

The Tigers, who also started off slowly against Blake (5-3 loss), were indeed outshot 8-1 in the opening stanza with Edgar scoring the only goal on the power-play at 14:16 with Kierstin Browning and Ava Nygaard assisting on a goal-mouth scramble.  Rosemount played an inspired game throughout and outshot the visitors 31-17, including 6-3 in the overtime session.  The surprising victory for the Irish avenged an earlier 5-2 loss at Farmington on Nov. 3 and broke the team’s three-game losing skein.

The final two periods were relatively even.  Neither team scored in the middle period but Samantha Moehle tied it at 1-1 when she tallied her team-leading 20th goal at 7:24 of the third.  The freshman now has 28 points overall, second on the team to fellow freshman Claire Enright (38). Enright had an assist on Moehle’s goal and leads the team with 20 helpers. 

“Our goal for the game was to have a nice forecheck with a couple of cycles and then get a pass to the mid-slot and the puck to the net and, hopefully, to their goalie’s short side,” lamented Holmes.  “In the overtime, we had multiple chances to clear and we got caught with all five players below the dots and we were just watching the puck and when a point-shot got on net we lost a scrum battle in front and they tallied the winner.”

FHS had its only opportunity of the game on the power-play at 2:22 of overtime but couldn’t convert and Rosemount was 1-4 with an extra skater on the evening.  Bridget Heffron had 15 saves for the winning Irish. 

With the loss, Farmington falls to 10-8-1 overall and 7-5-1 in the South Suburban, good for fourth place behind Eagan (12-1), Lakeville North (9-4), and Shakopee (8-5).  Rosemount improves to 7-11 overall and 4-9 in loop play.  The lady Tigers next face Apple Valley (8-9-2 overall, 4-7-2 league) at the Apple Valley Ice Arena at 6 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 19.