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The Austin girls hockey team controlled the puck as it grabbed its first win of the season when it defeated Mankato West (0-8-1 overall) 5-4 in Riverside Arena Saturday.

Sarah Wangen netted a hat trick for the Packers (1-6 overall), and AJ Barrera had Allie Davidson each had one goal.

“We knew going into this game that it was going to be a pretty evenly matched game and if girls played like we know they can, we could come away with the win and they did,” Austin co-head coach Cory Squier said. “We were going into this game trying some new things and some players playing in different positions trying to put all the pieces together to have the best team performance in the game and we feel those little changes worked well for us.“

Austin shuffled its lineup a bit for the game and it paid off.

“Maci Talamantes was one of those players playing the wing position after playing defense and she had one of her best games of the season,” Squier said. “She gives us that added strength on the front end we were looking for and is a nice presence in front of the net. Even though she didn’t get a goal in the game she had several opportunities that just missed the net.” 

Lauren Bowe had two assists for Austin and Chloe Schaal had 14 saves to score her first career varsity win in net.