November 27, 2017 at 1:59 p.m.
Northern Edge solves goalie question in doubleheader
Turunen makes 99 saves in two games as Edge swept by Marquette
Northern Edge solves goalie question in doubleheader
Sophomore Alicia Turunen made 51 saves in the first game, and 48 saves in the second, as the Northern Edge was swept by scores of 7-1 and 6-0 at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building.
Turunen, who scored two goals in the Edge's season-opening loss to Lakeland/Tomahawk, has previous goaltending experience in the Antigo youth hockey program, and put it on display Saturday.
"I think we have our answer. I think it's very clear. I think moving forward, it's pretty obvious that Alicia is our goalie," Northern Edge coach Kevin Sandstrom.
Gracie Lenzner and Nevaeh Forster split time in net during the opener and Sandstrom said the plan going into the day was for Turunen to start in net for Game 1 and for Forster to get the nod in Game 2. He said he, Turunen and Forster all agreed between games that Turunen should get another shot.
"That was actually a relief," he said. "When it comes to a coaching decision, it means we have our goalie going forward. We also saw some pretty impressive stuff from Nevaeh Forster as a skater, as a forward. She displayed that in the second game."
Marquette certainly put Turunen through her paces in her first high school goaltending action. While a .884 save percentage on the day doesn't jump off the page, Turunen faced high pressure all afternoon as Marquette dominated the area below the face-off dots in the defensive zone that the Edge refers to as the house.
"We allowed the kids to throw a party in the house while we went out of town," Sandstrom said, noting that virtually all of Marquette's shots came from within close proximity to the Edge goal. "They really trashed the furniture. They broke some windows. They had no care whatsoever for the property and it showed."
In Game 1, Turunen turned aside all 20 shots she faced in the opening period, but things quickly changed in the second after the Edge failed to score on a 5-on-3 power play.
Shae Blewett scored on the power play 1:52 into the second. Lexi Anderson and Cassidy Becia added two more goals over the next 2 minutes, 36 seconds and the route was on.
"That (first) minute set the tone for the period. That's where the entire game changed," Sandstrom said.
Abbie Tollefson added a short-handed goal midway through the period for Marquette before sophomore Madi Losch tallied her first career varsity goal, finishing a 2-on-1 breakaway off a pass from freshman Evelyn LeVeque at the 11:11 mark of the second. Sandstrom also credited freshman Bailey Novy's positioning on the 2-on-1, which afforded Losch a clean look from the top of the left face-off circle.
"It was a beauty of a shot ... A really nice play all around," Sandstrom said.
Blewett beat Turunen top shelf in the final minute of the second period and Marquette scored a pair of power play goals in the final 3:30 of the contest.
Special teams proved to be the story of Game 1 as Marquette was 4 for 5 on the power play, and also scored a goal with an extra attacker prior to a delayed penalty call. The Edge, conversely, was 0 for 9 on the power play. The struggles with the extra attacker continued in Game 2, where the Edge was 0 for 5.
"That makes us 0 for 14 on the day," Sandstrom said. "It looked good when we were able to set it up in the zone, we just weren't able to put it past the goaltender the second game here. Definitely a work in progress."
Colleen Redding put Marquette on the board at the 13:23 mark of the opening period in Game 2. Blewett added a goal 3:44 into the second and Anderson scored short-handed with 39 seconds left in the period.
Tollefson scored twice in the first 6:23 of the third and Anderson tacked on the final goal with 2:43 to play.
"It's a very challenging team we faced," Sandstrom said. "I think it's one of the better teams we faced this season. I don't think anything today had to do with a lack of effort. I just think you had a team that had much more time to prepare. They've been playing together much longer. We're still in the early stages trying to gel, trying to get better."
The Edge was outshot 54-9 in Game 2, which was their first shutout loss of the season. The team travels to Kettle Moraine to play in the Lakeshore tournament this coming weekend.
Antigo Daily Journal sports editor Laura Harvey contributed to this report.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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