Worthington edges Austin Packers girls’ hockey team 6-5 Tuesday evening

The Austin Packers girls’ hockey team was looking to get back on the winning track at Riverside Arena Tuesday evening in a non-conference matchup with the Worthington Trojans, and in a back-and-forth affair, the Trojans’ Kessey Aljets scored two short-handed goals :58 apart in the third period to lift Worthington to a 6-5 win.

Angie Randgaard put the Trojans in the lead 1-0 with an assist to Alljets at 2:02 of the first period, but the Packers tied the game when senior forward Kiah Rumsey scored her first goal of the season at 4:11 of the period, with an assist to Hailee Schaefer.  Austin moved out to a 3-1 lead in the second period when Izzy Heman tallied at 1:30, with assists to Megan Schultz and Kate Holtz, and Holtz scored :46 later to make the score 3-1, with assists from Maci Talamantes and Schultz.  Worthington rallied back to tie the game at 3-3 when Megan Dykstra scored :29 after Holtz, and Lauren Nelson tallied at 9:15 of the period.  Austin took the lead back at 4-3 when Holtz scored at 12:22 with an assist to Izzy Heman, but the Trojans answered with an unassisted goal by Riley Nickel at 14:25 to tie the game yet again at 4-4.  Sara Wangen scored what turned out to be Austin’s final goal of the game a short time later to put Austin in front 5-4 at the end of the second period that saw the two teams combine for a total of seven goals.

With Worthington’s Riley Nickel in the penalty box for cross-checking at 13:19 of the third period, Alljets tied the game with an unassisted, short-handed goal at 13:43, and another unassisted, short-handed tally from Alljets at 14:41 proved to be the eventual game-winner.

Austin was whistled for one penalty during the game for two minutes, while Worthington was penalized twice for four minutes, and each team was scoreless on the power play.  Packer goalie Kyia Radford-Garcia turned away 20 of the 26 shots she faced, while Trojan netminder Lillyan Newman kicked out 36 of the 41 shots she faced to earn the win between the pipes.

With the loss, Austin falls to 2-5 on the season, and the Packers will look to get back on the winning track at Le Sueur Arena next Tuesday versus Minnesota River, with face-off scheduled for 7:00 p.m.