In the first meeting between these 2 teams earlier this month, in a contest much tighter than expected, it took a 3rd period goal by Allison Parnell from Amelia Vosen to dispose of St. Francis.  The Fighting Saints again gave the Eagles all they wanted in the contest tonight.  T-G withstood a 3rd period barrage from St. Francis to escape with a 3-2 victory.  The Eagles entered the game shorthanded, as 3 players were out sick or hurt:  leading scorer Kristen Dellich, Laura Minkoff, and Brigitta Zosel, and Maddy Javorina had limited availability.  This meant that T-G would have to rely on their other top scorers and players to step up to secure the win.

The Eagles got off to a sluggish start as players had to get used to the revised line combinations.  T-G actually drew 2 powerplay opportunities in the first 6 minutes, but they only managed to get 1 shot on net during these chances.  The Eagles started to put things together later in the period as Abby Huber found Allison Parnell above the circle who fired a shot that beat Fighting Saints goaltender Dakota Bullen to give T-G a 1-0 first period lead.  For Allison, it was her 12th goal of the season.

The second period saw play open up a little more and the play go up and down the ice.  Abby Huber had a big period as she accounted for almost half of the shots taken by the Eagles in the period.  T-G increased their lead to 2-0 when Katessa Archer fed Maddie Savage, who scored her first Varsity goal of her career.  Things were looking bright as the Eagles took a 2-0 lead into the second intermission.

St. Francis came out in the final period like a desperate team and they relentlessly attacked the T-G net.  Logan Knip faced 20 shots in the period and held the Fighting Saints off the scoreboard for the first 14 and a half minutes.  For all of St. Francis’ efforts, the Eagles were able to cling to their 2-0 lead, and things got even better when Amelia Vosen netted her 9th goal of the season from Molly Adam, who just came out of the penalty box, with just 2:30 remaining in the contest.  Instead of the Fighting Saints giving up after T-G’s 3rd goal, they turned up the heat even more.  Just 9 seconds after the Eagles scored, St. Francis forward Kelley Wagner put her team on the scoreboard, cutting the T-G lead to 3-1.  With 1:34 remaining, the Fighting Saints pulled their goalie for an extra attacker and they continued to pepper the Eagles net, finally putting a rebound in with just 1:16 to go in the period.  St. Francis was not able to get the equalizer, as Logan finished with 33 saves in the victory.

T-G will conclude their regular season schedule hosting top ranked Benilde-St. Margaret’s at Parade Ice Garden on Friday at 7:30pm.  The Red Knights currently boast a 22-2-0 record and have a perfect conference record.  They have also scored 77 goals and have yet to allow a goal against to their North Suburban conference opponents this season.  In the last 3 meetings between the 2 schools, BSM has outscored the Eagles 27-2, so T-G will have their work cut out for them.