WILLMAR - The Willmar girls hockey team outshot St. Peter/Le Sueur-Henderson/Tri-City United 49-18 but got pucks past goalie Jordan Keeley just twice.
But that was enough for the Cardinals to post a 2-1 victory over the Bulldogs in the opening round of the Section 2A playoffs on Thursday at the Willmar Civic Center.
“We outplayed them offensively,” said Willmar head coach JaColby Anderson. “We had the puck in the offensive zone about 75 percent of the time. Their goalie was the only reason they were in the game.”
Willmar’s Shelby Schneider scored unassisted at 15:11 of the first period, but the Bulldogs’ Emma Doherty-Bohl tied the game with her own unassisted goal at 9:21 of the second.
The Cardinals’ Riley Schneider scored the game-winner at 13:37 of the second on assists from Anne Johnston and Shelby Schneider.
Willmar goalie Johnika Wodash made 17 saves.
“I’m really happy with how we played,” Anderson said. “We battled and fought hard and now we have to get ready for a tough game against (top-seed) Hutchinson.”
The No. 4-seed Cardinals play the Tigers at 7 p.m. Saturday at Hutchinson.
Willmar 2, SPLSHTCU 1
SPLSHTCU (xxxx) 0 1 0 - 1
Willmar (xxxx) 1 1 0 - 2
FIRST PERIOD – W: Shelby Schneider 15:11
SECOND PERIOD – S: Emma Doherty-Bohl 9:21 … W: Riley Schneider (Anne Johnston, Shelby Schneider) 13:37
THIRD PERIOD – No scoring
GOALIE SAVES – St. Peter/LS-H/Tri-City/United: Jordan Keeley 47 … Willmar: Johnika Wodash 17
