The Worthington Trojans girls’ and boy’s hockey teams both played home games on Thursday night. The girls’ team celebrated Senior Night and played the non-conference Austin Packers. Austin beat Worthington 6-1.
The boy’s team played Marshall. The tall, strong, and quick Tigers prevailed 6-1 over the Trojans.
Austin 6, Worthington 1
WORTHINGTON – Two goals on the opening three shots propelled the Packers to their second victory on the season.
The Trojans had an inspiring start from the opening face off with senior Riley Nickel creating a shot on a breakaway pass that bounced off Austin goalie Chloe Schaal’s chest.
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New Ulm’s opening period goals came early and within half a minute of each other. The first goal was scored by speedy senior captain Sarah Wangen off of a rebounded puck. The second goal was shot by Peyton Squier.
“I told the team and told them that they skated hard tonight. They (Austin) got lucky breaks, they got good tips that bounced off our players and went in. Sometimes the lucky bounce gets the goal,” said Worthington coach Chad Nickel. “We had a lot of good opportunities. A lot of pressure, but we just couldn’t capitalize when we were down there. Miss a pass here, miss a pass there. That's the game of hockey.”
The second period was physical with both teams creating several opportunities to skate into the o-zone and score. Austin struck again in period two with a barrage of shots moving Worthington goalie Lillyana Newman away from net as the puck rebounded onto Squier’s stick for her second goal of the night.
Worthington scored its lone goal of the game in the second period as Nickel wristed a shot in 10 feet away from goal.
“When I was skating around the net, I was going to turn and shoot a little earlier but I decided to keep going. I was just thinking to myself that I got to keep going and then cut in really fast and get a shot,” said Nickel on her scoring play. “I was not looking at the goal. I wouldn’t say that I close my eyes, I just don’t look at the goal so it is kind of the same thing.”
The third period started rough for WHS, as a deflected shot from Austin’s Camille Dunlap floated through the air and cleared the crossbar for the Packers fourth goal. The Packers’ fifth goal came from Yazmine Huerta, and the final goal came on a nifty stick handle lift from Wangen on a breakaway.
Graduating for Worthington are seniors Lillyana Newman, Allison Iverson, Cadence Van Ede, Riley Nickel, Lauren Nelson, and Megan Dykstra.
The Packers had 21 shots on net. The Trojans had 11 shots.
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Worthington hosts Morris/Benson Area on Saturday.
Austin 2 1 3 – 6
Worthington 0 1 0 – 1
Marshall 6, Worthington 1
WORTHINGTON – A late third period goal from junior Easton Newman broke up a Marshall shutout victory.
Newman, a strong body with good speed and stick handling, muscled his goal past Marshall senior Ezra Maurice on a dish from Dawson Duangapai.
Marshall scored its first goal in the opening 90 seconds, senior captain Sean Nwaiga’s shot cleared traffic with assists from Malachi Klemm and Chase Mellenthin. Tiger Talan Plante scored his goal unassisted. The final first period goal came from Andrew Seanor after 10 minutes of play.
“They got a few quick ones where its small mistakes, we didn;t get the puck out when we could have and it ended up with Marshall’s best kid,” said Worthington coach Tyler Nienkerk. “It’s small mistakes that get capitalized on. When the puck should be out of the zone, we need to get out of the zone.”
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Seanor scored three goals on the night. His second goal came in period two off a shot with traffic in front of the net. Seanor’s third goal came from Gavin Peterson and Joey Fossum assists.
Parker Schmitt’s goal in the third period was an unbelievable shot from the point that bounced straight up from hitting the crossbar and as players lost track of where the puck went it slid into the net for the final Tiger goal of the night.
Worthington hosts Morris/Benson Area on Saturday.
Marshall 3 1 2 – 6
Worthington 0 0 1 – 1
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