Mound Westonka's barrage of shots beats Mankato East/Loyola in girls' hockey

White Hawks took a record 73 shots, and needed them to top Mankato East/Loyola

February 21, 2019 at 4:15AM
Mankato East's Evie Johnson (4) put the puck past Mound Westonka's goalie Taylor Smith in the third period. ] Shari L. Gross • shari.gross@startribune.com Mound Westonka defeated Mankato East 4-2 in a Class 1A quarterfinal game of the MSHSL hockey tournament on Wednesday, Feb. 20, 2019 at the Xcel Energy Center in St. Paul, Minn.
Mankato East’s Evie Johnson scored on Mound Westonka goalie Taylor Smith in the third period; Cougars goalie Andrea Schreiber made a record 69 saves to keep the game close. (The Minnesota Star Tribune)

Bob Kuehl, co-head coach of Mound Westonka/Watertown-Mayer/Southwest Christian, summed up his team's Class 1A quarterfinal pretty well.

"When's the last time you had 73 shots on goal,'' he said, "and you were still worried about the outcome?"

The White Hawks peppered Mankato East/Loyola goaltender Andrea Schreiber with 73 shots, with four of them finding the net in a 4-2 victory Wednesday at Xcel Energy Center to remain undefeated (23-0-5). Schreiber, a senior, made a record-breaking 69 saves.

Schreiber said afterward she knew she could handle the task of so many shots.

"I tried my hardest to keep it a low-scoring game because I knew that's what we needed to potentially win," Schreiber said.

The No. 3-seeded White Hawks took a 3-0 lead through two periods with goals from senior Lauren Burris, freshman Kailey Niccum and eighth-grader Gretta Pioske before the Cougars came back to get within one with 8 minutes, 12 seconds left in the game.

Despite the deficit, Schreiber came up with plenty of saves throughout to keep the Cougars in contention.

"It was actually pretty frustrating, but I just knew that their goalie was playing really good," Niccum said.

Madison Davis scored first for the Cougars (18-8-2) with her 36th goal of the season with 12:34 to play. Teammate Evey Johnson made it 3-2 a few minutes later with a backhander.

The White Hawks' Sydney Hules added a power-play goal in the game's final minute.

HEATHER RULE

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