MITCHELL – The Aberdeen Cougars went the distance and then some during the opening round of the State Girls’ Hockey Tournament on Thursday evening.

The Cougars and Watertown Lakers battled through nearly three overtime periods of scoreless hockey before Watertown’s Lily Murray scored the game-winning goal on a power play with 42 seconds left in the third overtime.

“We had a little bit of a slow start, but the girls picked it up in the second period and worked hard all the way to the end,” said Aberdeen coach Amy Munsterman-Wills. “Going into overtime is tough, but pushing into a third overtime is even more of a feat. The girls left it all out there, and at the end of the day it came down to who had a little more gas left in the tank.”

The Lakers outshot the Cougars 20-9 in the three combined overtimes, and 45-33 overall.

Chloe Vikander stopped 44 shots in goal for Aberdeen.

“Chloe played a phenomenal game and kept us in it all the way to the end,” Munsterman-Wills said. “I’m really proud of the effort the girls gave tonight.”

The Cougars will now try to regroup for a contest against Sioux Center at 2:30 this afternoon.

“We play Sioux Center (Friday) and hope we can show some resilience and finish the tournament strong,” Munsterman-Wills said.

Aberdeen Cougars 0 0 0 0 0 0 – 0

Watertown Lakers 0 0 0 0 0 1 – 1

First Period: no scoring

Second Period: no scoring

Third Period: no scoring

First Overtime: no scoring

Second Overtime: no scoring

Third Overtime: 1, WL, Lily Murray (Piper Krueger), :42.

Shots on Goal: Aberdeen Cougars 33; Watertown Lakers 45.

Goalies: Aberdeen Cougars, Chloe Vikander (44 saves); Watertown Lakers, Kira Reppe (33 saves).