Girls hockey: Irish fall short in section final

• One game short

Rosemount junior Allison Micheletti plays the puck in Wednesday’s section final game against Burnsville. Burnsville started fast Wednesday and Rosemount couldn’t recover in the 6-1 loss.

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An incomplete effort hurt the Rosemount girls hockey team at the worst possible time.

With a trip to the state tournament on the line, the Irish lost 6-1 to Burnsville in the Class 2A, Section 3 finals on Wednesday night at the Veteran’s Memorial Community Center in Inver Grove Heights.

“They overall played better,” Rosemount coach Tracy Cassano said. “The score was accurate tonight. They flat out beat us in all areas of the game. We played, not Rosemount hockey. There were spurts. There were spurts where I thought we had some momentum and had some chances. But other than that, you can’t play spurts of hockey against a top Lake Conference team.”

The Irish beat top seed Eagan 5-1 late last week to earn another meeting with Burnsville in the finals. Rosemount (16-10-2, 10-6-2 Lake) and the Blaze split their two Lake Conference games earlier this season, with the Irish taking a 3-1 decision just two weeks ago.

Burnsville took control early on Wednesday.

Rosemount’s Allison Micheletti missed on a scoring chance off the opening faceoff after weaving through the defense before the Blaze quickly countered on their own breakaway. Burnsville scored on three of its first five shots to take a 3-0 lead in the opening minutes of the first period.

“They capitalized and we didn’t, right away,” Cassano said. “From there, I think nerves took over and they outplayed us for the majority of the game.”

The Irish scored a power-play goal late in the first as Rachael Kelly scored with assists to Sarah Tollefson and Micheletti to close out the first 3-1. Rosemount came out strong early in the second, but couldn’t pull any closer.

“We came out in the second and I felt like we had our feet moving and we started pressuring,” Cassano said. “Give credit to their goalie. She came up big. I think she shut us down and then they got the fourth one and I think after that all systems were invisible. At that point, the wheels started to come off and I think we panicked.”

Rosemount was confident after beating top seed Eagan last week.

The Wildcats scored first and then the Irish offense took over. Rosemount scored three goals in the first and two in the second to put the game away.

Kelly, Kendra Goodrich, Tollefson, Kayla Goehring and Micheletti all scored for the Irish. Kelly and Micheletti added assists for two-point nights. Hannah Esselman had an assist.

Caitlin Dantzscher made 39 saves to help the lead stand up as the Irish were outshot 40-19.

Tags: girls hockey, rosemount, sports, prep, irish