Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall forward Brooklyn Mauch shoots the puck during the first period of the Section 3A girls hockey semifinals against Windom on Saturday. The Tigers defeated the Eagles 6-0 to advance to the section championship game against Luverne tonight.

The Marshall girls hockey team continues to peak at the right time, putting up six goals in a shutout win over Windom in the Section 3A semifinals on Saturday. Still, they’ll need to be at their best today when they look to take down the four-time reigning section champions in Luverne.

The Cardinals last missed the state tournament in 2018-19, when they lost to Mankato East in the second round of the section tournament. While Marshall is the top seed this year, they could just as easily be considered the underdogs as they look to snag their first state tournament berth since the 2017-18 season.

Heading into today’s game, the Tigers have a 17-8-1 overall record and an 11-2-1 conference record. Luverne sits right behind them in the standings at 16-10-0 and 11-3-0.

The Tigers and Cardinals split their regular-season matchups, each stealing a win on the road. Brooklyn Mauch scored four goals to lead Marshall to a 5-2 win over the Cardinals on Jan. 25 but Anika Boll scored a pair of goals to lead the Cardinals to a 4-1 win over Marshall back on Nov. 28.

Marshall prides itself on its defensive effort, including the forwards’ impact on the forecheck, but Luverne presents a difficult group of forwards to contain. Ellie Van Batavia leads the Cardinals with 26 goals in 26 games on the year, as well as a team-leading 42 points, while Tenley Behr adds another 32 points and 20 goals. Beyond just those two, Gretta McClure, Ella Apel, Payton Behr and Izzy Steensma all have exactly 27 points on the season — with all but McClure having surpassed double-digit goals — and Boll, Macie Edstrom, Paula Martinez and Hannah Woodley are all double-digit point-scorers on the season.

For Marshall, Mauch leads the team with 21 goals and 33 points in 25 games while Abbey Foley adds another 15 goals and 25 points. Mauch has scored a point in 11 straight games since the Tigers’ loss to Eden Prairie on Dec. 19 while Foley has put her name on the scoresheet in nine of the last 10 games.

Luverne has been a regular in the state tournament, but both Marshall and Luverne are notably young teams. Marshall has just four seniors while Boll is the Cardinals’ only senior. Batavia is only an eighth grader for Luverne while Mauch is a freshman and Foley is a sophomore for Marshall. Eliza Holmgren, who has netted nine goals on the year for Marshall, is the only top-five goal scorer for either team who will be graduating after this season, though Lily Verkinderen has also been impactful for Marshall in terms of her ability to set up scoring chances while Olivia Penske has been a key contributor in the defensive zone.

Emma Sarloos has started all 26 of the Cardinals’ games in goal this year, racking up a .876 save percentage and a 2.48 goals-against average. Her save rate in head-to-head games against Marshall goes up to .881. She’s also posted five shutouts on the season, the most recent of which came in a 6-0 win over Waseca on Jan. 30.

For Marshall, Lily Stelter has started 23 of the Tigers’ 25 games. She’s put together a .907 save percentage on the season, a 1.55 goals-against average and six shutouts. Four of her six shutouts have come since Jan. 1 and she’s held Windom and Worthington scoreless in the Tigers’ last two games. She’s put together a .860 save percentage in her two games against Luverne, though she saved 21 of the 23 shots she faced in her last game against the Cardinals and has been playing her best hockey since the start of the new year.

Tonight’s puck drop at Gustavus Adolphus College is slated for 7:30 p.m.