St. Paul, MN - #5 seed St. Paul United entered the 2018 state Class A tournament  as back-to-back second place finishers in 2016 and 2017.  This year, United entered the tournament looking to work their way back to the final and change their fortune.. However, the #4 seed Alexandria Cardinals stood in their way in the final quarterfinal matchup of the day.

Alexandria picked up a thrilling 3-2 win behind a three-point effort by senior Kristin Trosvig and 33 save effort by 8th grade goalie Hailee Bailey Wednesday night at the Xcel Energy Center.  

United got thing going on the scoreboard in the first period with senior Samantha Burke. She scored her 29th goal of the season at 2:46 of the first period to give United a 1-0 lead going into intermission.

The Cardinals answered back in second period.  Kristin Trosvig’s took a terrific feed from senior Calley Richardson at the left hash marks as she charged down from the high slot.  Trosvig made a quick move to the right and walked down the slot unimpeded to rifle her 15th goal of the season past United goalie Jillian Oncay to level the game at 1 at the 5:00 mark of the second period.

Trosvig struck struck again at 15:10 of the second period hammering home a goal off the left post to give her team a 2-1 lead.  Richardson picked up her second assist of the game.  

Bailey made three bigtime saves in the second period, two with her pads in the middle of the second frame and a third off a scramble late in the period to keep United at bay and send her team to the locker room with the 2-1 lead.  

Alexandria added to their lead on an impressive breakaway goal by junior McKenna Ellingston.  Trosvig picked up the assist to open a 3-1 lead with 7:01 remaining in the third period. Ellingston held the puck and froze Oncay as she moved to her backhand and tucked home the insurance policy.  

Bailey was outstanding in the third period as well and a difference maker for her Cardinal edition.  She flared the leather with a terrific glove save snapping the puck out of the aire with just over 3 minutes left to keep the game at a two goal lead for her team.  

With the United crowd serenading the ice with Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’” late in game, United heeded the call and scored with :56 seconds making it a one goal game on junior Catherine Kerin’s goal cutting the deficit to 3-2 and setting up a wild finish with the empty net.

Alexandria took a penalty with :20 for body checking setting up a faceoff in their zone and a 6-on-4 power play for United. Bailey made a save from the butterfly with her pad and plenty of traffic crashing on the net.  The 8th grader was as cool as any senior.  She turned aside 33 United shots to pick up the win.