Savelkoul’s goal with 17 seconds left lifts Tigers

Sydney Overgaard caught fire with the puck and the Albert Lea girls’ hockey team beat Winona 6-5 Tuesday at the Albert Lea City Arena.

Overgaard gave the Tigers a 3-0 lead in the first period with a pure-natural hat trick. It’s pure because she scored three goals in the same period and natural because her scores were uninterrupted by other scoring, said Albert Lea head coach Laura Hillman.

However, Winona came back in the second period with four straight goals to take a 4-3 advantage into the final period.

The Tigers responded with three more goals. Anna Englin tied the game at 4 three minutes into the third. Overgaard gave Albert Lea a one-goal lead five minutes later, but Winona tied the game at five with about 3 minutes left. Hannah Savelkoul came through for the Tigers by scoring the game-winning goal with 17 seconds left.

“We played very strong defense in the last 17 seconds, tied up the puck and didn’t give them a chance to score,” Hillman said. “It was quite an interesting night.”

The duo of Maddy Carstens and Overgaard was potent. All four of Overgaard’s goals were on assists by Carstens. Hannah and Sarah Savelkoul earned one assist each. Englin and Hannah’s goals in the third period were unassisted.

Albert Lea (4-6 overall, 3-2 Big Nine Conference) is 3-2 since Hillman took over as head coach.

Next, the Tigers will play at Owatonna (4-1 overall, 4-1 Big Nine Conference at 7 p.m. Thursday.

View the box score in the Scoreboard: Dec. 3 post.