MANKATO — Sand rains down and here I sit, holding rare flowers in a tomb, in bloom.
It’s lyrics to Alice in Chains’ “Down in a Hole” which played during the first intermission of No. 14 Minnesota State’s series opener against No. 13 St. Cloud State Friday. It’s a song that also summed up the action at Mayo Clinic Healthy System Event Center.
The Mavericks found themselves down in a 3-0 hole after the opening 20 minutes. It proved to be a hole which they were unable to climb out of in a 4-0 loss to the Huskies, snapping a four-game winning streak in the process.
“We got away from the things that have led us to be successful,” MSU head coach Shari Dickerman said. “Our plan is to regroup, refocus and get back to those things tomorrow.”
The two squads battle again at 2 p.m. Saturday.
“I think we had a lot more to give,” senior captain Taylor Otremba said. “We just needed to be a little sharper. It wasn’t our best game, but what’s nice is we know we can do better. We have higher expectations. We just didn’t meet those today.
“We’re going to have a little more compete (Saturday).”
The Huskies (7-11-1, 3-9-1 WCHA) needed 95 seconds to strike first. Payton Holloway’s shot, the first of the day for the visitors, snuck past Hailey Hansen for a 1-0 lead. It was the first time MSU fell behind on the scoreboard since its series opener against No. 2 Minnesota two weeks ago.
“That first goal was a weird bounce … I think it took people off guard,” Otremba said. “I think after that people let up a little bit. We took on some adversity after that one.”
St. Cloud State’s Sofianna Sundelin made it a 2-0 game thanks to momentum from a power play. Avery Farrell’s backhander traveled across the entire crossbar and into the net with 34 seconds left in the opening frame. And for the first time since Nov. 15 against No. 3 Ohio State, the Mavericks walked into the locker room trailing after the first period.
“What’s led to us being successful was our net front defense,” Dickerman said. “Today we just let people get to the net and pick up sticks like we have been. They scored a couple of goals that they got to the net and we weren’t able to box them out.”
The Mavericks were a perfect 5 for 5 on the penalty kill and were outshot 36-28.