Girls Hockey: Trying to be more offensive

Michaela Tonsager was the leading goal scorer last season (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Last winter the Tigers managed to score just 40 goals in 26 games, resulting in a lackluster 4-19-3 record. This year coach Jon Holmes is hoping his team gets more offensive.

"We don't have any returning players who scored double digits goals last season," Holmes said, "so we will probably have to do it by committee. We certainly have a few players that are capable, especially once they break that threshold.

"We really need to get past scoring less than two goals a game. This will come by our entire team grinding grinding to net and creating more scoring opportunities."

The Tigers lost just three players from last year's team to graduation but all three were contributors. Rachael Peroutky was an all-Missota Conference selection and Grace Gavin and Haleigh Zwart each received all-league honorable mention.

Goaltender Maddie Bowe (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Holmes figures much of his offense will come from seven veterans, including Breanna Raske, Megan Stivers, Kaitlyn LaCroix, Maddie Kohlbeck, Michaela Tonsager, Shelby Klotz and Maddi Oines.

Tonsager, an all-Missota Conference player as a sophomore, was the team's top goal scorer last season. Klotz moves to the forward position after playing on the blue line last season.

 "We want to take advantage of her (Klotz) quickness and aggressiveness," Holmes said.

Several players from last year's junior varsity team are also expected to vie for varsity ice time this season, including Halea Wright, Emma Record, Maddie Yousse and Ellie Moser.

Senior captain Scootie Donnelly (photo by J. Lindquist)

Holmes said he is pleased to return a veteran defensive corps consisting of captain Scottie Donnelly, Blue Line Award-winner Brooke Raske, Rachael Welzin, Dani Wright and Tyler Words.

Goaltenders Maddie Bowe and Molly Singewald, co-Rookies of the Year last winter, return to patrol the Tiger nets.

"Defense will be our strength," Holmes said. "Our depth on the blue line allows us to move Shelby (Klotz) to forward...Our goaltenders got a lot of experience last year and both should bring a solid presence for us."

Holmes said he is optimistic about his team's chances in 2013-14 and for now is focusing on short-term goals.

"The kids hat are here are certainly dedicated and willing to put in the effort to get better," he said. "We'll be working on short-term individual and team goals early on. That will allow us to be checking our progress and making certain we make realistic goals for later in the season."

The Tigers kick off their 2013-14 season Friday, Nov 15, with a non-conference road game at Hastings.

Boys X-Country: Hyytinen runs second state race

Justin Hyytinen

Justin Hyytinen's second trip to the Class AA state meet didn't go quite as well as planned.

The junior speedster, who had the 12th fastest regular season time among the 174 state qualifiers, stayed with the lead pack through the first mile-plus before finishing 83rd at the state finals held Saturday at St. Olaf College in Northfield.

His finishing time 16:53.4 over the 5000-meter course was a full minute above the 15:53 he clocked in placing runner-up at the Section 1AA Championships the previous week.

"Justin didn't run as well as we hoped," coach Lisa Lippold said. "He knew going in to the race he didn't feel right and about a mile and half in you could see he wasn't feeling good.

"He had an amazing season and it was an accomplishment for him to return to the state meet. Overall this season he dropped 18 seconds from his personal record time that he ran at state a year ago....We are looking forward to seeing what the track season is going to bring."

Earlier this season Hyytinen, a consistent medal winner in high quality meets, became just the third Tiger ever to win an individual Missota Conference championship.

Girls X-Country: Peterson makes state debut

Lauren Peterson

Heading into the 2013 cross country season Lauren Peterson had never competed in a varsity race.

That wasn't her fault, however. As a seventh-grader this was the first year she was eligible to participate on the high school team.

Last Saturday Peterson capped a brilliant first season by finishing 131st in a 174-field of elite runners at the Class AA State Championships held at St. Olaf College in Northfield. She was just one of eight seventh-graders who qualified for the state finals.

Peterson finished the challenging 4000-meter course in 16:03.2, more than a minute slower than she ran at the Section 1AA Championships last week.

"Lauren did great considering it was her first time participating in such a big meet," Tiger coach Heidi Revels said. "She wasn't happy with her time, but we kept reminding her how amazing it is to make it to state and how she will know what to expect next year.

"I think it was intimidating to be one of the younger athletes and racing with such a large crowd watching.  But what a great experience to be racing with the top Minnesota runners. We are so proud of her."

Earlier in the season, Peterson won all-Missota Conference honorable mention honors. She qualified for state with a sixth place showing at the Section 1AA meet. 

Tiger Scoreboard: November 3, 2013

Boys Cross Country
Class AA State Championships at St. Olaf College
Justin Hyytinen 83rd place out of 174 runners

Girls Cross Country
Class AA State Championships at St. Olaf College
Lauren Peterson 131st place out of 174 runners

Volleyball: Tigers take Mayo to the limit

Emma Fahning 21 kills, 21 digs, 12 serve receptions (photo by Jim Lindquist)

Fifth-seeded Farmington threw a Halloween Night scare into top-seeded Rochester Mayo in a 3-2 loss Thursday night in the Section 1AAA semifinals played in Rochester.

The Tigers led 2-1 after three games before eventually falling by scores of 25-21, 19-25, 25-18, 22-25 and 13-15.

To show the closeness of the contest, each team finished with an identical 104 points over the five-game set.

"We got off to a lead with a solid offense they (Mayo) didn't have an answer for in games one and three and three," Tiger coach Mike Woody said. "Mayo's offense caught fire in games four and five, and we were fighting to stay in it.

"The rallies in those closing games were fabulous. It was one of those matches where it was a shame someone had to lose. I told the girls after the match that I could be happier, but I could not be any prouder."

Kenzie Hesse 23 kills, 21 serve receptions, 18 digs (photo by Jim Lindquist)

The ever-improving freshman attacking  tandem of Kenzie Hesse and Emma Fahning continued to lead the Farmington offense. Playing off the passing of setter Ruthie Schmitt (49 assists), Hesse finished with 23 kills, two more than Fahning.

On the defensive end, senior libero Diana Comes had a big night with team-highs in serve receptions (38) and digs (24).

Comes had plenty of help. Fahning recorded 21 digs while Hesse and Schmitt finished with 18 and 14 respectively.

Hesse totaled 21 serve receptions. Fahning added a dozen and Hanna Baer had 11. Vanessa Garske came up with four blocks, one more than Morgan Cecchittini.

The section loss left the Tigers with a final season mark of 19-12, their highest win total since their state tournament team finished 20-12 in 2009.

Diana Comes 38 serve receptions, 24 digs (photo by Jim Lindquist)