This story is sponsored by: Valley Communities Credit Union
By Paul Lecker
MarshfieldAreaSports.com
MARSHFIELD – The mostly inexperienced Marshfield girls hockey team held its own for two periods but in the end the more talented Central Wisconsin Storm was able to pull away.
The Storm scored three goals in the third period to defeat Marshfield 4-1 in a nonconference game Thursday night at the Marshfield Youth Ice Recreation Center.
Marshfield’s freshman goalie, Alexis Straughan, kept the game close with 28 saves during the first two periods. Megan Marlowe scored with 5:12 left in the first period to give the Storm a 1-0 lead and the score held until early in the third.
Kelly Knetter and Kylie Gazzolo scored in the first 7 minutes of the third period to push Central Wisconsin’s lead to 3-0.
Marshfield’s Paige Johnson scored on a breakaway with 3:59 remaining to break up Storm goalie Kristine Ponti’s shutout attempt, but Gazzolo added another goal with 1:38 left and the Tigers couldn’t muster another good scoring opportunity.
Straughan finished with 43 saves for the Tigers, while Fonti had 10 as the Storm dominated the puck for much of the game.
“Alexis did a really nice job in the net again. It’s been the story all season,” Marshfield coach Nate Sparbel said. “She’s been coming up big and she’s a talented goalie, there’s no doubt about it.”
The Tigers (4-4) have been up and down this season, which is expected considering four freshmen and two sophomores are seeing plenty of playing time. Sparbel said the younger players have showed improvement, but it is time for them to step up even further.
“We only run two lines and I think the big thing is there’s not a lot of experience,” Sparbel said. “These girls are doing a good job learning as they go. The season’s early and I think you’ll see some good things from them.
“The stuff that we’ve been teaching to the girls and implanting to the young players … it’s really time for them to not be practicing on it, but rather start acting on it.”
Marshfield is off until Jan. 5 when it travels to Mosinee to play the Storm again.
“All we try to do is get the puck in the neutral zone against a team like this and play hockey,” Sparbel said.
Storm 4, Tigers 1
Central Wisconsin 1 0 3 – 4
Marshfield 0 0 1 – 1
First period: 1. CW, Megan Marlowe (Emilee Mytinger, Alex Guenther), 11:48.
Third period: 2. CW, Kelly Knetter (unassisted), 4:03; 3. CW, Kylie Gazzolo (Myranda Hayes), 7:13; 4. M, Paige Johnson (ua), 13:01; 5. CW, Gazzolo (Paige Sedlar, Hayes), 15:22.
Saves: CW, Kristine Fonti 5-0-5-10; M, Alexis Straughan 15-13-15-43.
Records: Central Wisconsin 8-2; Marshfield 4-4.