Lakeville South scored the first four goals of the game and rolled to a 5-1 win over the Tigers Saturday, Nov. 20, at Schmitz-Maki Arena.
"We definitely got outplayed the first two periods," coach Jon Holmes said. "They beat our players to the puck and did a great job of crashing our net.
"South has a very talented team. We will need to be ready in February when we could face off against them again in the playoffs."
The Cougars put on the offensive pressure early, peppering Farmington goalie Jessica Erchul with 16 shots in the opening period. Two of them found the back of the net and the visitors added two more scores in the second before Krystal Baumann broke the Tiger scoring drought with a power play goal in the closing minute of the period.
Neither team managed a score in the third period until the Cougars added an exclamation point to the non-conference win with an empty-netter in the final seconds.
Farmington's meager offensive production didn't come from lack of opportunities. The Tigers sent 34 shots at Cougar netminder Chelsea Laden but had only Baumann's sixth goal in three games to show for it.
"Laden is a solid goaltender," Holmes said, "She makes the tough saves and just doesn't miss any of the easy ones. Still, we made her job easier by not choosing our target before we shot."
Hannah Alexander assisted on the Tiger goal, her seventh assist of the young season.
Erchul had a busy night between the pipes, stopping 40 of 44 shots. In her first three outings, Erchul has faced 119 shots.
"We have given up way too many shots," Holmes said. "Last year we gave up an average of 21 shots a game. This year it's been 38. We have a lot of work to do in our defensive zone."
The Tigers (1-2) look to even their season record when they open their Missota Conference schedule Tuesday, Nov. 23, at Chaska/Chanhassen.
