Photo by Samantha Davis: Marshall forward Brooklyn Mauch (15) high-fives her teammates on the bench and goalie Lily Stelter (30) after scoring a goal in the Tigers’ 7-1 win over New Ulm in the 3A girls hockey semifinals at Red Baron Arena in Marshall on Saturday.

ST. PETER — The top-seeded Marshall girls hockey team is set up to once again take on No. 2 Luverne in the Section 3A championship game at Gustavus Adolphus College’s Don Roberts Ice Rink. The meeting will mark the third year in a row that the Tigers and Cardinals have faced off in the section final, with each team winning one of the two matchups in the trilogy.

Luverne won the first of the two battles by a score of 4-0 in 2024, led by a pair of goals from then-eighth grader Ellie Van Batavia. The middle school forward capitalized on a Marshall interference penalty for the go-ahead goal halfway through the second period and put the finishing touches on the win in the final minute of the third. In between, Greta McClure and Izzy Steensma each scored and assisted a goal, while Emma Saarloos put together a 17-save shutout to hold the Tigers’ attack at bay.

Last year, however, Marshall got its revenge with a 5-2 win over the Cardinals to claim its first state tournament appearance since 2018.

Tenley Behr and Van Batavia scored the game’s first two goals, but the Marshall defense shut down the Luverne offense from there.

Stelter didn’t let up a goal for the remainder of the game, finishing the night with 13 saves as the Tigers completed the comeback.

An even-strength goal from Elsie Deutz put Marshall on the scoreboard with three minutes left in the second period, and Brooklyn Mauch scored the equalizer on the power play after Behr was called for a checking minor. Deutz went on to score the go-ahead goal six minutes into the third period, and a goal from Mauch and an empty-netter from senior Kendal Beernaert sealed the deal for the Tigers as they claimed the section title.

“It feels actually unbelievable. There’s no words to describe it in this moment,” then-senior Beernaert said after the win. “It hasn’t really hit me yet, but these girls have put so much work in, it’s no surprise that we won.”

Both the Tigers and Cardinals return the bulk of their talent from last year’s matchup. The Tigers did lose a handful of key players, such as Beernaert and defensemen Nora Holmgren and Olivia DeGroot. Still, all of Marshall’s top four point-scorers return, as well as Stelter in goal. Luverne returns each of its top three point-scorers and every player on the roster that scored multiple points on the season except for Peyton Behr, as well as Saarloos in goal.

Despite the similarity in rosters between the last two seasons, Marshall took a step forward while Luverne took a step back. Marshall improved from a 12-1-2 conference and 23-5-2 overall record last season to an 11-1-0 conference record and a 22-4-0 overall record this year. Luverne, meanwhile, went from 12-3-0 (18-7-2 overall) last year to 10-5-0 (18-9-0) this year. Marshall was voted seventh in the final coaches poll, while Luverne heads into tonight’s matchup ranked 16th.

A big part of the Tigers’ improvement comes from the continued development of its top-line forward. Mauch finished last year with 48 goals and 83 points. This season, she leads the state of Minnesota with 71 goals and 104 points in just 26 games. Abbey Foley also made the jump from 46 points last year to 53 this year, including a state-leading 47 assists, while Peyton DeMuth has already matched her total of 25 goals from last season and has 50 points to date in her sophomore season.

In goal, Stelter has continued to make strides. After posting a strong .908 save rate last year, Stelter has saved 92.6% of the shots she’s faced this year with six shutouts.

Luverne, however, has also seen players make strides. Van Batavia, now a sophomore, has set a new career-high with 42 goals and 67 points on the season — up from 26 goals and 49 points last year — while Tenley Behr helped replace the 23 goals of lost production from Payton with 26 goals this year, up from 19 in 27 games last year. Ella Apel also jumped from 24 points to 47.

So far this season, the Tigers have dominated their head-to-head matchups against Luverne. Marshall routed the Cardinals 6-1 on Dec. 4 and closed the regular season with a 4-3 win over the Cardinals on Jan. 27. The two teams met again three days later, and Marshall once again won 6-1.

Dating back to last season, Marshall has won five of its last six matchups against the Cardinals by an aggregate score of 28-13.

A win in tonight’s game would give Marshall its fifth state tournament appearance, and its third since 2018.

Luverne has qualified for the state tournament six times, five came consecutively from 2020 through 2024, though the Cardinals have never won a game in the championship or consolation bracket of the state tournament, while Marshall won its consolation bracket matchup last year to place sixth in the Class A tournament.

Puck drop for tonight’s game in St. Peter is slated for 7:30 p.m.