ANTIGO - Northern Edge goalie Sophie Schmidt stopped 48 shots on goal, but it wasn’t enough as Superior stopped the Edge’s five-game winning streak 3-2 on Saturday at the Langlade County Multi-Purpose Building in Antigo.

Katie Detert added to her team-leading points total with a pair of assists, but Rhinelander/Antigo/Three Lakes struggled without two standouts in uniform, Gabbe Millot (personal) and Kaitlin Rohde (concussion).

“We broke down at times defensively,” said Edge coach Nick English. “It’s kind of disappointing. I challenged our girls before the game, with missing a couple of players, who’s going to step up?”

It was just the second win of the year for the Spartans, who improved to 2-6-1. Northern Edge dropped to 9-5-0, getting just 22 shots on goal.

“I told them, we have to put it behind us, it’s not a conference game, so we have to focus on the conference games that we have ahead of us,” said English.

Superior opened the scoring just more than halfway past the midpoint of the first period with an Anna Lurndal goal. Then, with under a minute left in the first, Detert left a pass for Taylor Trachte in the slot, who followed her shot with a rebound goal to tie it at one.

The Spartans took a commanding 3-1 lead into second intermission after goals by Devyn Moss and Kari Miller.

In the third, the Edge climbed back within a goal when Detert wrapped a pass around the goal and Lindsey Steger found the open net.

That made it 3-2 with just over eight minutes left. But with the Edge within striking range, Maddie Shinners was slapped with a five-minute major penalty and a game misconduct on a hit from behind. That meant Northern Edge played shorthanded for most of the remaining five minutes of the game. The Edge couldn’t muster a shorthanded goal, and Superior cruised to the win.

After the non-conference loss, the Edge still controls its path to a Great Northern Conference championship. That starts with a game on Monday at Point/Rapids.

“We won’t have (Kaitlin Rohde) back for Monday, and with Maddie getting the game misconduct, we won’t have her back for Monday, so it hurts. Once again, I’m going to challenge our girls. Who’s going to step up?” asked English.

Point/Rapids beat the Edge 2-0 in the first matchup.

Story By: Ben Meyer