North Wright County Girls Roll into Section Semifinals

With the news of their friend, Luke Letellier's death, the North Wright County RiverHawks laced up laced up against Brainerd/Little Falls Saturday to open up the Section 8AA Tournament.

"It was tough. There were tears and hugs in the locker room and again when we had the moment of silence," said head coach Tim Hanson of his team. "We played on a lot of raw emotion."

The squad, which consists of St. Michael-Albertville, Monticello and Annandale students, cruised to a 13-0 win, behind freshman Paige Voight's hat trick, and Annie Bockers' four assists.

"Our young players, like Paige and Annie, have really stepped up," Hanson said.

The team suffered a big setback back on Feb. 2, falling on the road to Moorhead, but rebounded Feb. 3 to clinch the conference championship outright with a win over Cambridge, 4-1.

Since then, all time and effort has gone into preparing for the Section 8 tourney.

"There are goals we have along the way, but the ultimate goal is to get back to state," said Amanda Koep, senior goaltender who had seven saves Saturday.

Still, the question was how the team would respond with the news of No. 44's death earlier in the day.

"They responded in a huge way. We outshot them tonight 37-7 for the game and nearly every player had at least a point. We rebounded well against Cambridge, as well. I like they way we're playing right now," Hanson said.

Now, the Hawks turn their attention to the No. 4 seed, Sartell-Sauk Rapids, who they dumped 5-2 to open the regular season back in November.

The game will be in Albertville at the , since the Knights boys' team will be taking on Monticello at the Moose Tuesday night.

"It's going to be a lot different," Hanson said. "Sartell-Sauk Rapids has been playing very well as of late and has a strong goaltender in Erin Deters.  I could be a difficult challenge for us to find the net if she comes to play."

A win puts the squad in the section final once again, where they'll wait for the winner of Moorhead vs. Roseau.