The Tiger girls’ hockey team took the three-hour trek to Paynesville Saturday, emerging with a 5-1 victory over the River Lakes Stars. The Tigers improve their record to 3-0 on the season and are averaging over five goals per game to start the year.
The Tigers put on the pressure early as senior Hanna Austinson scored on the Tigers’ first shot of the game after picking off a pass at the blueline and beating River Lake’s goaltender Lillian Thompson top shelf. Unfortunately for Albert Lea, so did River Lake’s as Makayla Schrieber scored on the Star’s first shot as well. Defense was the story for the rest of the first as the score remained 1-1 to close out the period.
The second period saw two Tiger milestones. Seventh grader Indiana Hansen scored her first varsity goal after taking a stretch pass through the neutral zone from junior defenseman Sydney Kolker and scoring on a breakaway. Moments later sophomore Haley Austinson would score on a one timer off another Kolker pass to put the Tigers up 3-1, notching her 100th career point as a Tiger. Albert Lea outshot the Stars 14-5 for the period.