February 7, 2018 at 2:26 p.m.
Late goal foils Edge in 3-2 loss to Lakeland
Late goal foils Edge in 3-2 loss to Lakeland
Lakeland's Kailey Godfrey scored on a rebound with 1:32 remaining as the T-Birds defeated the Northern Edge 3-2 in the last home game of the season for the Edge at the Rhinelander Ice Arena.
The Edge (7-15-1, 3-4-0-1 Great Northern) took a 1-0 lead less than four minutes into the second period on a Lauren Kefalinos goal, but it was all Lakeland from that point. The T-Birds outshot Rhinelander/Antigo 22-4 following the goal and 32-15 for the game.
"That will tell you the story right there," Sandstrom said. "There was one team that wanted it more. We had a team of players (some) who wanted it, some who weren't sure what they wanted.
"You have to want to win. You look at this team, especially last season, and there was this not want to lose by seven attitude. You could see it immediately when we made it 1-0 tonight."
Momentum turned in Lakeland's direction with a pair of goals that bookended the second intermission. Lauren Godfrey scored to tie the game with 17 seconds remaining in the second period and Lakeland got an Izzy Boyer goal 16 seconds into the third.
"They had some energy, they had some boost," Sandstrom said of Lakeland's quick momentum swing. "A lot of times this year we haven't responded that way, unfortunately tonight we did."
Madi Losch scored unassisted to tie the game for the Edge with 5:27 remaining one of only four shots on goal for Rhinelander/Antigo in the final period.
"Madi's goal was pretty," Sandstrom said. "I think she could have scored it about five seconds before, but it's nice that she got one home. She's one that's got to shoot more and she'd have some more goals and when she shoots, she's got to hit the net."
Poised to push the conference champions to overtime, the Edge could not withstand a late scrum in front of its own net when the T-Birds got a number of point-blank chances. After the Edge couldn't control the rebound, Kailey Godfrey finally beat Edge goalie Alicia Turunen.
"Lakeland has a desire and a need and a want to find that puck and get it home," Sandstrom said.
The Edge pulled Turunen for an extra attacker with 36 seconds remaining but were unable to get the equalizer. Regardless, Sandstrom said in the final minute he saw the Edge play with an energy he hadn't seen since early in the second.
"You saw girls doing everything they could to make sure, not only that we didn't get scored on, but that we did everything we could in the offensive zone to get a goal as well," he said. "That's the team I want to see from start to finish. It's the team I know we're capable of being."
Turunen made 29 saves for the Edge, which went 0-4 this season against its GNC rivals to the north and west. The Edge closes out the regular season against Northland Pines Monday night in Antigo.
Jeremy Mayo may be reached at [email protected].
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