St. Norbert rallied late in the third period to force overtime but came up short as the Falcons held on for a 2-2 tie Friday night at Hunt Arena.
Both teams came out of the gates strong to start the game, neither of them yielded to the other. The Falcons skated with the advantage just after midway in the period but could not capitalize. St. Norbert skated to the advantage and then picked up a tripping call, which could have gone either way. Getting the short end of the stick, the Falcons persevered and did not allow a goal as the Green Knights skated 5-on-3 in the final 1:04 of the period. Falcon goaltender Cassi Campbell (Anchorage, AK, Toronto Rattlers) was faced with four shots, two of which ricocheted off the pipes and two that she saved. Each team had nine shots on goal in the period.
The Falcons attacked Green Knight goaltender Kaley Gibson in a wild second period. In the first half of the frame, the Falcons poked in two goals to go up 2-0. Lauren Conrad (Lino Lakes, MN, Centennial HS) tallied her seventh goal of the season at 7:52 off a Jessica Thompson (Shoreview, MN, Mounds View HS) assist. Later in the period, Alyssa Jackson swiped a Green Knight pass in the neutral zone, split two defenders and stuck it top shelf to give the Falcons a 2-0 lead at 10:07. It was an unassisted goal and her second goal of the season. Later in the frame, St. Norbert cut the Falcon lead in half with a 4-on-4 goal at 14:25 from Laurel Hill to make it a 2-1 contest.
The final frame was highly contested as each team had close shots that easily could have cleared the net. St. Norbert tallied a game-tying-goal from Zoe Kurth late in the period at 1:47 to make the game 2-2 with under two minutes to play.
In overtime, the Falcons limited the Green Knights chances on scoring. The Falcons were on the attack most of the period, allowing only one shot. St. Norbert had the game-winning-goal waved off in the period because of a hand pass early in the extra frame.
The Falcons edged St. Norbert in shots 33 to 19 in the contest. The Falcons wound up in the sin bin four times for eight minutes while the Green Knights had three penalties for six minutes. Neither team scored on the advantage
Between the pipes, Campbell played all 65:00 and stopped 17 of 19 shots faced. She is now 9-0-2 on the season.
Tomorrow, the same two teams face off again for the series finale. If the Falcons win, they will host the semi and quarterfinals at Hunt Arena against teams to be determined, next weekend. Information regarding the games is forthcoming.
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