Austin Packers girls’ hockey falls to Rochester Mayo 5-2 Saturday

The Austin Packers girls’ hockey team was looking to get back on the winning track Saturday at Graham Arena in Rochester versus the Mayo Spartans in a Big 9 Conference tilt, and although Kate Holtz staked the Packers to a 1-0 lead in the first period, the Spartans then reeled off five unanswered goals, including two power play tallies as Mayo was victorious by a score of 5-2.

Holtz scored her team-leading 23rd goal of the season at 5:57 of the first period with an assist from forward Megan Schultz, her 13th of the season to give Austin a 1-0 lead, but Mayo’s Sydney Albrecht scored at 14:28 of the period to tie the game at one, and Katherine Cummings then took things over for Mayo as she tallied a natural hat trick with the next two Spartan goals in the second period  and another at 6:32 of the third period to give Mayo a 4-1 lead.  A power-play goal from Andrea Augeson 13:37 of the third gave the Spartans a 5-1 lead, and Holtz added a power-play goal for the Packers 1:20 later at 14:57, with an assist to Sara Wangen for the 5-2 final.

Austin outshot Mayo 30-19, and they were 1 for 3 on the power play, while the Spartans were a perfect 2 for 2.  Packer netminder Kyia Radford-Garcia made 14 saves in facing 19 shots, and Mayo goaltender Alivia Haakenson turned aside 28 of the 30 shots she faced to earn the win between the pipes.  With the loss, Austin is now 4-6 in the Big 9 Conference and 9-9 overall on the season.

The Packers return to action at home against Rochester Century Tuesday night to kick off a three-game homestand with only four games left overall in the regular season.  You’ll hear the game from Riverside Arena Tuesday evening right here on AM 1480 KAUS, with pre-game at 6:45 p.m. and face-off at 7:00 p.m.