Andover again gets the best of Edina, reaches 2A girls hockey final

Edina took the first lead in Friday's Class 2A girls hockey state tournament semifinal thanks to a scrum in front of the Andover net.

The Huskies drew even on a tipped shot.

A matchup of Senior Goalie of the Year Award finalists Uma Corniea, the Hornets' queen bee, and the Huskies' Courtney Stagman seemed likely to be decided on another such goal.

That is, until sophomore Maya Engler slid into the high slot and put Andover ahead 2-1 by rifling a puck high stick-side over Corniea's right shoulder. Engler's goal, her 19th of the season, held up as the game-winner, sending the defending state champion Huskies back to the title game.

"Uma is very good," Engler said. "But I have a shooting coach that always says I know where the net is."

Passing the lead back and forth fit two power programs that have traded the spotlight at Xcel Energy Center of late.

Andover won the 2020 tournament championship game against Edina. The Hornets got even by winning the 2021 title game.

On Friday, No. 3 seed Edina (22-5-2) led 1-0 after two periods against No. 2 seed Andover (27-3). But Hornets coach Sami Cowger knew better than to relax.

"We've played Andover enough times to know they're not going away," Cowger said. "We unfortunately had a couple of bad plays in the third that led to their two goals. If we could have gone out there and buried a couple right away, I think we would have deflated them and that game would have been ours."

BOXSCORE: Andover 2, Edina 1