ABOVE: Fairmont's Lauren Bettin looks to take the blue line in a Big South Conference girls hockey game against Marshall Thursday night at Marshall Red Baron Arena. Photo by Jake McNeill/The Marshall Independent.

MARSHALL — Brooklyn Mauch scored a hat trick and assisted another goal in the No. 8 Marshall girls hockey team’s 5-1 win over Fairmont in Big South Conference play on Thursday night. The four-point performance brought Mauch past the 60-point threshold in a single season for the first time, currently sitting at 61 with seven games remaining in the regular season and potentially several more after that.

Thursday’s game was Marshall’s first since suffering its first loss of the season on Saturday, an 8-3 defeat at the hands of Fargo North/South in West Fargo, N.D. The Tigers had won each of their first 14 games of the season and earned a point in each of their first 16 prior to the loss.

“We used [Saturday’s loss] as motivation. We need to work on things, take it day-by-day, practice hard, and then come out strong,” Marshall forward Kendal Beernaert said.

While Fairmont wasn’t able to pull out a win, goalie Alexis Sundeen did all she could to keep the Cardinals in the game. The freshman goalkeeper made a career-high 42 saves on 47 shots faced in the loss, good for a .893 save rate that fell just shy of her season average of .928.

The Tigers lived in the attacking zone from the opening puck drop, holding the Cardinals without a shot on goal in the game’s first 10 minutes. Despite the offensive onslaught, it wasn’t until the 14th minute that the Tigers got on the board.

Ava Kolander came up with a takeaway to send Marshall on the break and passed it up to DeMuth. After taking it up into the offensive zone, DeMuth zipped a cross-ice pass to Mauch, who finished the break with a go-ahead one-timer.

Two minutes later, Kendal Beernaert scored again for the Tigers off an assist from Aubree Metheny. Just after crossing the blue line, Beernaert sent the puck gliding forward in what looked like a dump-off behind the net. Yet, it glanced off the goalkeeper’s pad and into the back of the net without anyone in the arena realizing at first.

It took several seconds for the goaltender to turn around and see that the puck was behind her, for the Red Baron scoreboard managers to sound the horn and for Beernaert and company to start celebrating another Tiger goal.

“I just tried to dump it, tried to get it changed, but it ended up getting in the net,” Beernaert said, saying she didn’t realize it had gone in until she skated behind the net and saw it in there

Marshall goaltender Lily Stelter saved eight of the nine shots she faced in the game.

Halfway through the second period, DeMuth put her name on the scoresheet again, this time for a goal instead of an assist. In a scrum by the net with the puck loose, DeMuth got the tap-in for her 20th goal and 30th point of the season. Abbey Foley and Mauch were also credited with assists on the play.

Foley was called for a body-checking minor in the final minute of the second period and Fairmont capitalized. Trailing 3-0, Lauren Bettin put the Cardinals on the board off the feed from Mariel Parish to go into the second intermission facing a two-goal deficit.

Marshall didn’t allow Fairmont to remain within striking distance for long. Despite being on the penalty kill after an interference call against Foley, Mauch added to the Tigers’ lead with a shorthanded goal. Using some fancy stickhandling, she dangled her way past the goalie to make the score 4-1.

Just seconds after Marshall finished killing off the penalty, Mauch scored another goal off an assist from Mia Wichmann to bring the Tigers’ lead up to 5-1.

Fairmont and Marshall were both assessed two-minute minors in the first minute of the second period, Fairmont for a tripping call on Kennedy Murphy and Marshall for an interference call against Beernaert.

Marshall improves to 16-1-1 (6-0-1 BSC) with the win while Fairmont falls to 8-5-1 (5-3-0 BSC). The Tigers will aim to keep rolling when they host Worthington (3-8-0, 1-5-0 BSC) on Tuesday at 7:15 p.m., while the Cardinals will look to get back in the win column when they host Princeton/Big Lake/Becker (4-9-0) for a non-conference matchup tonight at 7 p.m.