Huskies comeback falls short

In their first matchup of the season, the Owatonna girls lacrosse team was able to use a second-half surge to pull away from Mankato High School for a 10-7 in Mankato.
Tuesday’s matchup at OHS Stadium may have provided similar fireworks, but a more somber ending for the Huskies.
With roughly 20 seconds left remaining in the game, Owatonna’s Skyler Eaton had the potential to tie the game until a back-check from a Mankato defender jarred the ball loose right before she was able to fire off the shot.
Since Kenna West broke the plane of the crease on the potential game-tying shot, Mankato was awarded the ball with five seconds left to hand the Huskies (7-3, 7-1 Big Nine) not only their loss in the Big Nine, but the first loss in the last eight games.
“We played hard. I think anyone who watched the game saw it was a good match,” Huskies head coach Dan Paur commented afterward. “We got down a little bit early and had to claw back early.”
Owatonna applied the pressure early and often, registering the first four shots on goal and dominating the time of possession with the ball. In fact, Mankato wouldn’t register a shot on goal until nearly five minutes had passed in the first half. The only problem for Owatonna was that Mankato goaltender Jordan Romnes was in the zone.
“She was amazing, she stopped everything we threw at her,” added Paur. “We were putting them in good spots, she was just stopping them. Sometimes goalies are like that, they get in to some tunnel vision and man you tip your hats to them.”
Despite Owatonna dominating the shots on goal, Mankato was able to make the few that they delivered early count. Weaving through the defense, Taylor Kanstrup managed to sneak the ball past Owatonna’s Maddie Seykora at the 18:24-mark of the first half to give Mankato the early 1-0 lead.
Facing a 1-0 deficit, the pressure from the Huskies’ attack only seemed to increase, having multiple scoring chances. However, Romnes was dialed in, turning away each shot she faced. It could have also been the Mankato defense collapsing down on net when the Huskies’ were pressing. Paur noted that in the previous matchup, there were better opportunities on the seven-on-seven.
“We had our way a little bit more in Mankato,” he noted. “They were pretty tight tonight. Which is good, it made us work.”
Trailing 3-0, the Huskies did just that.
On a reset, Jade Huseby managed to burst through the Mankato defense to cut the lead to 3-1 at the 7:29-mark of the first half. The momentum generated late by Huseby’s goal seemed to carry over into the second half as Jasmynn Stechmann’s successful penalty shot attempt cut the lead to 3-2 just four minutes into the second half.
Just minutes later, Mankato’s Hanna Helms scored the game-winner after beating Seykora to the high left corner of the net. With roughly 15 minutes left in the game, Owatonna’s Kenna West was able to cut the lead to 4-3.
Owatonna will be back in action Friday as they host Rochester Century at OHS Stadium.