A pair of losses on the weekend helped to pave the way to a victory for the Aberdeen Cougars on Sunday afternoon.

The squad used lessons learned from those setbacks to fuel a 3-1 girls’ hockey win over the Watertown Lakers at the Odde Ice Center.

“I think that we just kind of remembered how we played over the weekend,” said Aberdeen’s Calley Gage, “and we played with that same intensity.”

The Cougars fell to the state’s top two teams, Brookings and Sioux Falls, but battled both of them and in turn gained a measure of confidence knowing that they can compete with the elite teams.

“I think these games leading up to this game like against Brookings and Sioux Falls really helped us,” said Aberdeen senior Rachel Siefken, “because it improved our intensity and where we want to be at. We’ve been developing over the games … so I think that’s what helped us today.”

Watertown jumped in front with a first period goal, but the Cougars didn’t panic. Instead, they dug in and got stronger as the game wore on.

“They held their positions and kept it calm,” said Cougars coach Amy Munsterman-Wills. “I think we’ve done a little bit better of that this weekend, too, not getting chaotic and losing position. They kind of grounded themselves again and played where they need to be.”

Aberdeen leveled the score in the second period when Gage found herself on the doorstep of the goal when a rebound came right to her. She then placed it in the back of the net to tie the game.

“I was just kind of by the net, crashing for the rebounds as normally a wing does,” Gage said, “and just kind of got a lucky bounce, and it kind of just bounced off me and it went in.”

The Cougars ended up with 16 shots on goal in the second period as they slowly took control of the contest.

The score remained tied until Siefken made a nifty move to get past a defender and then buried the puck past the goalie with 11:23 remaining in the contest.

“I was just trying to push the puck to the net, and then I saw a defender coming at me, so I had to make a move around,” Siefken said. “I had to keep telling myself not to shoot glove side. I have to shoot more blocker side.”

Aberdeen eventually extended the margin when Addyson Keller had a empty-net goal with just over a minute remaining.

The win avenged a setback to Watertown early in the season.

“I definitely think we had more intention with this game and more intensity,” Siefken said, “which really amped up our passing and shooting.”

The Cougars, who have just one home game remaining this season, will look to use the momentum gained on Sunday as a spring board for the rest of the campaign.

“I think that this just really gave us momentum moving forward, knowing what a win feels like and what it takes to win,” Gage said. “I think we’re just really going to build off of that.”

The win comes at a good time for the Cougars, who had lost nine of their previous 10 games.

“This was a kind of a good point of, yep we need to win this one to give us a little more momentum and positivity looking forward to the next half of the season,” Munsterman-Wills said.

Aberdeen has games at Mitchell on Saturday and Brookings on Sunday.

The local squad will continue to put in the work as it attempts to maintain momentum and confidence the rest of the way.

“We just gotta keep moving forward,” Siefken said. “We gotta keep working at practice, working on both defensive and offensive plays to get creative in our zones, and hopefully we get more wins this season.”

Watertown Lakers 1 0 0 – 1

Aberdeen Cougars 0 1 2 – 3

First Period: 1, W, Audrey Eide (Lily Murray), 9:04.

Second Period: 2, AC, Calley Gage (Riley Keller, Rachel Siefken), 14:43.

Third Period: 3, AC, Siefken (unassisted), 11:23; 4, AC, Addyson Keller, empty net (Siefken), 1:03.

Shots on Goal: Watertown Lakers 27; Aberdeen Cougars 34

Goalies: Watertown Lakers, Nylah Vanelli (31 saves); Aberdeen Cougars, Chloe Vikander (26 saves).