Saturday Special 5.13
Our Farmington game vs Mankato was postponed, so, I can dive in for a longer Saturday Special post today. Have a lot to cover from Thursday and Friday night…. as well as looking into the games today. Hopefully weather doesn’t pose an issue for other games on tap today
Recapping some of the more interesting/important games of thurs/fri.
THURSDAY
Chaska 10 v Mound-Westonka 9 (4OT!): I am putting this game in here simply because it went to four overtimes! I am not sure there have been many 4OT games in MN HS lacrosse history. I certainly don’t remember the last one. Nonetheless, this is a nice win for Chaska who I think has potential to be a good team in the future. Mound-Westonka has manufactured a nice season for themselves and, like chaska, are trending in the right direction. Makes sense this was an extremely competitive game.
Park 12 v Hastings 10: This game has some section 3 implications and will help park argue for a higher seed come sections. I am thinking these two teams will be sitting some where in the 6-8 range in the section, and very well could see this rematch as a play-in game. I assume Simley and STP Ducks will be the 9/10 playing in to play the 1 seed. Park and Hastings look to be, right now, the 7-8 playing into the 2 seed. Park probably secured a home game with this win. Unless… Hastings shocks the world in their next 3 games… @STA, @CDH, @Eastridge. A win in any of those, they could make a case for bumping up in the section.
Chanhassen 12 v STA 7: Just another one of Chan’s grinder games where they play to a submission. They aren’t blowing the doors off team’s on the scoreboard, but, maybe this is by design? Sounds like STA struggled pretty much the whole game to really generate anything. Game was 11-4 Chan in the 4th… STA got a couple late.
Minnetonka 11 v Eden Prairie 9: A competitive game, which we thought it would be. Always a tough battle between these two teams. We know MTKA can score, I am impressed EP scored 9 on them as they have had some lower scoring games. Box score didn’t show qtr by qtr scoring so not sure if this was a game that was in hand and EP closed last or if it was competitive all the way through… nonetheless, the lake conference has been competitive this year and should be interesting how those teams fair in sections.
Lakeville North 13 v The Valley 5: I think the Valley holding LN to 13 is impressive, but, I did expect them to be more competitive offensively in this game. Quinn Power went 17/19 on face-offs against a pretty good Valley opponent so that will be something teams will need to figure out if they want to beat LN. If LN stays healthy, they will be a really tough out.
FRIDAY
Sartell/Sauk Rapids 6 v St. Cloud 5: Huge win for the Storming’ Sabres! St. Cloud has been slowly climbing up my radar but this win for S/SR is a huge section win for them. They lost to St.Cloud and Andover to start the year but now have won 5 of their last 6 games get to 5-3. St. Cloud, still 6-3 should be favored to win the rest of their games, so, this section meeting will be interesting.
Stillwater 10 v Woodbury 2: After we raved about Woodbury having a great season, Stillwater puts the clamps on them. I do still think Woodbury is a good team and having a great season, but, this was a rough go for them… Stillwater defense has been strong this year, and despite their opening day loss to BSM, they still only gave up 8 goals to the Red Knights. Stillwater has been laying in the weeds. They aren’t as explosive this year so flying under the radar compared to previous years. I wouldn’t want to play the Ponies at any point in June. Woodbury will need to regroup and as we talked about on the pod, they are definitely built to get an early lead and grind out games… if they fall behind quick, it gets dicey for them
Hill Murray 9 v STP/Two-Rivers 7: Didn’t see this game but tip of the cap to STP/TR for keeping this one competitive. Again, scored only tell part of the story, but, Hill-Murray is a quality opponent. Compared to where STP/TR were a year ago before the co-op, it’s nice to see them being competitive now as a co-op.
WBL 11 v Irondale 9: This game was closer than I thought it would be. Irondale has been a bit down compared to my thoughts heading into the season, but, they do continue to battle. White Bear Lake feels like a team that should be good, I don’t know what to think. A lot of their games have been close. At 6-2, their only two losses have been by one goal to Stillwater and Woodbury, two high quality opponents. I feel like a couple tweaks, maybe a couple better bounces, and they are 8-0. I still think they are more than capable of winning section 4.
CDH 11 v Moundsview 2: I am not sure if it was a DTA curse or what, but, they MV hype-train has officially come to an end. While it has been a great turnaround for the Mustangs compared to last year, they may just be a year away from any significant push in the playoffs. Good news is, they have a young team and will get a lot of their top guys back next year. CDH, after a slow start, is hitting their stride. They have won 4 games in a row and starting to get some scoring production. They could be a sneaky team in section 3, where many of the teams have all beat each other.
SATURDAY PREVIEW
Eden Prairie v Mahtomedi: A very cool east/west clash here… I think these two teams are similar and I think this could be a good game. Both teams have a 4-3 record and have beat who they should have beat… lost who they should have lost to. Both teams are probably in the upper middle of the pack in the state. I think we could see overtime in this one!
Rochester Mayo v Wayzata: This is Mayo’s second crack at a metro opponent. They don’t get many so, I know they are eager to make it count. They played Farmington tough but fell a bit short. They are a good team and will be looking to add a quality OOC win to their resume this year. Wayzata had a hot start and has sputtered - but, they play a much tougher schedule than Mayo. This one will be interesting.
Prior Lake v Duluth: Adding this game as it’s a fun one and props to PL for heading up to Duluth to play the Wolfpack. A good test for Duluth against a metro team and I am sure a fun trip for the Lakers to add in some team bonding. Duluth has been vocal about us sleeping on them this year. A win or close game with the Lakers certainly puts them in the discussion. The Lakers are coming off a big SSC win vs Farmington and will look to continue chipping away after a rough start.
Mound Westonka v Tri-Mac: Both teams having great seasons and trending in the right direction. Tri-Mac is coming off their biggest win in program history after beating Blake the other night to win the IMAC. Mound/Westonka are coming off a heart breaker 4OT loss but still sitting at 6-2 on the year. I think this will be a great game!
