WASECA — Rachel O’Connor made 25 saves and the Fairmont Area Cardinals girls hockey team took its second win of the season, 5-4, over the Waseca Bluejays on Thursday night in Waseca.

The Cardinals took an early lead over the Bluejays in the Big South Conference matchup when Joni Becker used a Mackenzie Householder assist to score only six seconds after the initial faceoff.

Waseca came back strong with two first-period goals to gain a one-score advantage.

Paige Benson scored at the 14:05 mark of the first period off an Izabella Slechta assist, then Slechta used a Jayde Pederson helper to score at the 9:36 juncture of the opening segment.

The Cardinals then scored three consecutive goals, giving them a lead they would not relinquish.

Emily Sokoloski got the run started with an unassisted goal at the 13:29 mark of the second period, then Householder got her second point of the game when she scored an unassisted goal with 11:05 left in the middle segment.

Alexis Newville scored the Cardinals’ fourth goal of the matchup, and third unassisted goal, at the 15:07 mark of the third period.

Waseca answered when Pederson scored her second goal at the 12:19 mark of the final segment, but Chantel Moeller used a Shaye Dietz assist with 7:28 left to give the Cardinals a necessary insurance goal.

Cecelia Huttemier brought the Bluejays within one when she scored at the 6:36 mark, but O’Connor kept the Bluejays off the board for the remaining minutes to secure the win.

Fairmont Area (2-4-1) travels to Rochester to take on Rochester John Marshall at 5 p.m. Saturday. Waseca (0-7) plays at noon Saturday in Luverne.

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Boys Hockey

Waseca 9, Fairmont Area 2 — The Bluejays used a run of seven consecutive goals to build an insurmountable lead over the Cardinals in boys hockey action Thursday night in Waseca.

Fairmont Area took the initial lead in the Big South Conference clash when Hudson Artz used an Eli Anderson and Carson Kuhl double-assist to get the Cardinals on the board only 19 seconds into the first period.

Jagger Johnson then got the run started for Waseca, scoring at the 9:39 mark, then again with 5:35 remaining in the opening segment, both unassisted.

Earl Hanson scored the Bluejays’ final goal of the opening period, with 3:15 left, on a double assist from Max Neaves and Johnson.

Charlie Huttemier opened the second-period scoring with a goal off a Kyle Ahlschlager assist with 6:21 remaining, then Johnson collected a hat trick with his third goal, this one with 5:48 remaining in the middle segment off a double assist from Ahlschlager and Huttemier.

Tylor Nordquist joined the scoring with 1:04 left in the second period when he scored off a Ben Priebe assist.

Marcus Priebe scored the final goal of the run off an assist from Ben Priebe before Alec Reutzel got the Cardinals their second goal off an assist from Seth Becker. Reutzel scored with 8:24 left in the matchup.

Waseca scored twice more when Jarret Ahlschlager used a Nordquist and Nolan Wetzel double assist with 6:13 left, and when Ben Priebe scored unassisted with 5 minutes left.

Carsen Musser made 34 saves between the pipes for the Cardinals.

Fairmont Area (2-1) plays host to Breckenridge/Wahpeton at 1 p.m. Saturday at Martin County Arena.