Defending state champs start fast with seven first-period goals
MEDFORD GIRLS HOCKEY
Joey Schemenauer scored twice in the first five minutes and Madelyn Hebert also got two goals in a seven-goal, firstperiod outburst that led Chippewa Falls-Menomonie to an 11-0 win over Medford’s girls hockey team Thursday night.
The Sabers, the defending WIAA state champions, got goals from nine different players as they improved to 2-1 on the young season. The Raiders fell to 0-2.
Schemenauer, one of the remaining seniors from last year’s title team on an otherwise relatively young 2021-22 squad, got the Sabers going just 1:33 into Thursday’s game with help from an assist from Brianna Buonincontro. Those two struck again at the 4:51 mark.
A tripping penalty cost Medford a goal at 5:47 when Hebert scored just seven seconds into the power play. That goal was assisted by Addison Frenette and Paige Steinmetz, one of the team’s leading scorers from last year.
Ashley Shupe’s short-handed goal at 10:31 started a scoring blitz that put the game out of reach as the Sabers scored four goals in 2:31 to take their sevengoal lead. Rhyenne Fuerstengberg got the next one at 12:12, then Hebert got her second goal of the game 41 seconds later. Just nine seconds after that, Buonincontro notched an unassisted goal.
The Sabers outshot Medford 16-4 in the period and had a 22-6 advantage in shots in the second period when they added goals from Emme Bergh at 3:24, Emma-lyn Stephenson at 4:59 and Alexis Fenner at 13:03.
Tessa Leisses scored the game’s final goal 2:54 into the third period.
Medford’s young squad wound up with 12 shots on goal, all of which were stopped by Chippewa Falls-Menomonie’s new starting goalie this year, sophomore Kassandra Herr. Raider junior Alyssa Brandner, completely new to the goalie position this year, racked up 31 saves in her second start.
Medford was unable to convert on three power-play chances, two of which came back-to-back in the first period. The Sabers were one of two. Medford successfully killed a power play in the third period.
Medford travels to Marshfield Friday for a 7 p.m. face-off with the Wisconsin Valley Union and then has a quick turnaround. The Raiders will host the Somerset- based Western Wisconsin Stars co-op at noon on Saturday in the 2021-22 home opener. The Stars beat Chippewa Falls-Menomonie 7-1 on Nov. 30.
Medford hosts the Northern Edge Coop on Dec. 16 at 6 p.m. That game was pushed back three days from its original Dec. 13 date.
