Photo by Jake McNeill: Marshall’s Eliza Holmgren skates with the puck in the defensive zone during a girls hockey game against Fairmont in Red Baron Arena on Dec. 14, 2023.

MARSHALL — While they weren’t quite able to reach the state tournament, the Marshall girls hockey team put together a memorable campaign that brings about even more hope for the young group going forward.

After going 12-12 overall and 9-4-1 in the Big South to place third in the conference the year prior, the Tigers made the leap up to 17-9-1 overall and 11-2-1 in conference in the 2023-24 season. While capturing the conference title is always an exciting experience, this one meant just a little bit more; it was Marshall’s first conference title since 2007. To add some perspective, 16 of the 25 players on the roster were not born yet in 2007.

It’s hard to have a successful season without quality senior leadership and the Tigers had plenty of it this season. In the offensive zone, Eliza Holmgren was third on the team in goals (9) and points (17) while Lily Verkinderen was fifth on the team in points with 12. In the defensive zone, Olivia Penske anchored the Tigers’ first pairing all year long while Paige Christianson posted a .935 save percentage in her two starts in goal.

“It’s a totally different year than I’ve ever coached before. They were really dedicated. Any extra ice time they could have, they grabbed it. They just built this bond of sisterhood. We haven’t really seen this closeness [before],” Marshall head coach Cassi Weiss said of this year’s group.

The Tigers challenged themselves with a tough early-season schedule. They dropped three of their first four games against Willmar, Fergus Falls and Hutchinson by an aggregate score of 7-0. After a pair of wins against Waconia and Pine City Area, they fell again with a 4-1 loss against the Luverne Cardinals, who were the four-time reigning section champions at the start of the season.

From there, however, the Tigers flipped the switch. It started when Marshall gutted out a 1-0 win over New Ulm, which had also been a force in the area for years. They continued to get stronger as they reached the end of 2023 and came out of the gates firing on all cylinders to start 2024.

Once the new year started, the Tigers won each of their final eight regular-season games. The wins weren’t just due to a front-loaded schedule, either; they defeated New Ulm 3-1 and Luverne 5-2, both on the road. They didn’t allow any of their final eight opponents to score more than two goals — shutting out four of them — and Marshall scored five or more goals in six of the eight games.

After starting just one game in the previous season, freshman Lily Stelter had a breakout year in goal for the Tigers. She saved 93.8% percent of the shots she faced from Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season to post a .904 save percentage on the year. Four of her six shutout efforts also came after the start of 2024. Among her most impressive efforts was a game in which she saved 35 of 36 shots against Mankato West and another in which she saved 21 of 23 against a loaded Luverne team.

“She’s just so dialed in all the time and focused and just really willing to try to be better,” Weiss said of Stelter after the Section 3A championship game. “She’s so young, she has so many years in front of her and I’m really excited to see what she can do.”

On the offensive end of the ice, the dynamic underclassmen duo of freshman Brooklyn Mauch and sophomore Abbey Foley continued to dazzle.

Mauch was the Tigers’ leading goal-scorer and point-scorer as an eighth grader and posted new highs in both categories with 21 goals and 33 points. Similarly, Foley’s 15 goals and 25 points were good for second on the team in both categories after she posted 10 goals and 22 points in her freshman year.

The Tigers’ momentum earned them the top seed in the section tournament. They showed exactly why they earned their seed when they took on Windom in the semifinals. Abbey Foley netted a pair of goals while Peyton DeMuth and Brooklyn Mauch each notched a goal and an assist. In goal, Stelter saved each of the eight shots she faced.

The performance propelled Marshall to their first section championship appearance since 2018 when they advanced to the state tournament with a 2-1 win over Mankato West.

The Tigers were looking to end Luverne’s reign over Section 3A when they traveled to Gustavus for the section championship game. After winning the teams’ last matchup by three goals and coming off a dominant win, the Tigers looked to be in pole position for a return to state. Luverne, meanwhile, had fought through overtime to advance with a 3-2 win over New Ulm in their semifinal.

Still, the experienced Cardinals proved too much for the upstart Tigers this time around, defeating Marshall 4-0 in the championship to advance to their fifth consecutive state tournament.

While the Tigers were thwarted this time around, they’ll still be returning a large crew full of young talent. Marshall isn’t going away anytime soon.