Albert Lea girls’ hockey defeats Mankato East

Published 5:55 am Wednesday, November 29, 2023

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The No. 14 state-ranked Albert Lea Tigers girls hockey team welcomed Big 9 rival Mankato East to the Albert Lea City Arena on Tuesday night and came away with a hard-fought 4-2 victory.

The Tigers jumped out to a quick 1-0 just 56 seconds into the game as Shelby Evans tipped a shot from Sydney Kolker that found the back of the East net.  

Less than two minutes later, Hanna Austinson scored an unassisted, highlight reel goal to increase the Albert Lea lead to 2-0.  

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Liley Steven put the Tigers ahead 3-0 on an assist from Evans.

Mankato East answered with a power play goal to cut their deficit to 3-1 at the end of the first period.

The second period featured plenty of back-and-forth action with East scoring the lone goal of the period to make the score 3-2.  

The third period saw good scoring chances for both teams before Austinson scored her second short-handed goal of the game to seal the 4-2 Albert Lea victory.

Jayda Moyer made 23 saves in net for the Tigers, who improve to 6-2 on the season.

They’ll be in Owatonna on Thursday evening for another Big 9 matchup. Game time is 7 p.m.