Section CliffsNotes: Section 2
2022 Section 2 Seedings
1. Chanhassen (17-2)
2. Eden Prairie (10-6)
3. Minnetonka (9-6)
4. Chaska (11-4)
5. Orono (7-8)
6. Hutchinson (9-6)
7. Shakopee (6-9)
8. Southwest Christian/Jordan (12-2)
9. Delano (8-7)
10. MWHS (Mound Westonka/Providence Academy) (4-10)
11. Holy Family (0-14)
12. Waconia (1-13)
2023 MPM’s Preseason Section 2 Top 8
1. Chanhassen
2. Minnetonka
3. Eden Prairie
4. Southwest Christian/Jordan (Hot take alert!!!)
5. Chaska
6. Hutchinson
7. Shakopee
8. Delano
Summary
No changes to the teams in Section 2.
Section Preview
1 - Chanhassen (2022 1 seed in section 2, 17-2)
Lost a few big guns, but their ‘23 and ‘24 classes are very accomplished. Has a new head coach (Carly Goetz, played at Virginia Tech).
· Won EP’s 10k lax tourney (state champ rematch) over Lakeville South in champ game, in September.
· Won the Great Pumpkin Shootout (high school version) over BSM in Champ game, in October.
· Fielded a younger team in PL’s chillax league (Nov and Dec).
· Played in EP Winter League with their big guns.
Lost:
Leah Hodgins – 81 points (D1 Boston University)
Bella Detienne – 70 points (D2 Northern Michigan)
Siri Hodgins – 46 points (D1 Boston University)
Bethany Velasco – 27 points
Returning:
’23 1st Team All State Tatumn Nyen, Defense (D2 Grand Valley State)
’24 Gabby Bjugan, Attack - 74 points (D1 Towson)
’23 Allie Welder, Mid - 55 points (D2 So. Connecticut)
’23 Aly McPartland, Attack – 39 points (D1 Niagara)
’24 GK Katie Colleran – 58.7% (D2 CSP)
New:
’26 Zoe Zielinski, Attack – 49 points with Chaska in 2022 – has been playing with Chan in several off-season events and shows Chan as her HS in her recruiting profiles
2 - Minnetonka (2022 3 seed in section 2, 2022 9-6)
Has shown out big time in the off-season events so far…and we said this about them last year too. Shout out to the most vocal parents in the off season…they love their off-season events… Lots of ‘24s and their ‘25 goalie has impressed so far. New coach Chandler (Hegna) DeZellar.
· Won MSLAX Holiday 5v5 Tournament
· Played in Chillax
· Played in EP League
Lost:
Ava Rajala – 82 points (D1 Liberty)
Courtney Youngquist – Defender (D1 Kent State)
Migi Frothinger – Defender (D3 UWEC)
Returning:
’24 Jordyn Helling, Attack – 47 points
’24 Ava Wixo, Attack – 40 points
’25 Clara Gilbert, Mid – 29 points
’24 Elli Fuchs, Attack – 17 points
’24 Ruby Swenson, Defender (D2 Grand Valley State)
’23 Bella Marette, Defender (D3 College of St. Benedicts)
3 - Eden Prairie (2022 2 seed in section 2, 10-6)
Lost 3 top tier players to graduation, but they still have the returning talent to fill those spots. The question for EP turns to if they have the depth to stay against the top programs all game and all season. Played in their own EP Winter league…duh.
Noteworthy - Basically made state every year ever, until Chanhassen beat them in section final in 2022
Lost:
1st team All State Josie Lillquist – 100 points (D1 California)
1st team All State Ellie Pearson
2nd team All State Taylor Kotschevar-Call – 65 points (D1 Marquette)
Returning:
’24 Kaci Kotschevar-Call, Attack – 47 points (D2 CSP)
‘23 Brinley Hopper, Mid – 27 points (D1 Cincinnati)
’24 Kylie Bamlett, Mid – 22 points
’25 Margaret Pearson, Defender
’23 Taylor Gabrik, Defender
’25 Addy Badon – GK 40.6%
4th spot. Yikes. Spots 4-9 ALL can make a claim to the 4th spot. Let’s make it another talking point!
5 - Chaska (2022 4 seed in section 2, 11-4)
Lost one of their young talents to intra-community in Chanhassen…so expect them to lean even more heavily on their returning top 2 point scorers. Their off season is a little muddled and we REALLY wanted to pick Southwest Christian in this spot, so we are…
· Chaska’s HC in 2022, Lauren Koloski, was on maternity leave in 2022
· Josie Lakosky 2023, (D2 Northern Michigan, 75 points and 95 DCs) coming back
· Here’s hoping Kennedy Sanders 2023 (D1 basketball Colorado, 58 points and 61 DCs) plays her senior year
· Zoe Zielinski (2026), 49 points - see above…so that hurts
· Lost their goalie and 8 other players
4- SW Christian (2022 8 seed in section 2, 12-2)
We love us some SWC! They’re really interesting – they lost their second leading point scorer, but return a lot of their 12-2 team from last year.
· Is their schedule the most difficult? No…but the young core is coming back is only going to be better with the year of experience.
· And props to them for playing in the EP Winter League against likes of BSM, Chanhassen, Prior Lake, Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, and Blake…but then:
Lost:
Olivia Wight – 42 points
Returning:
’25 Gisella Harder, Mid – 75 points, 115 DC (!), 77 GB (!!) – aka THE FRESHMAN – per P-Mac. Shout out for UA150 too!
’23 Bix Olimb, Attack – 40 points
’23 Tory Lacomy, Attack – 24 points
’24 Liv Bengston, Attack – 20 points
’24 Addison Kraus – GK 59.5% (against a weaker schedule…but seems to not be afraid of the ball)
We aren’t sleeping on Delano/Rockford (2022 8-7) either…they lose only 1 senior and they went 1-1 against SWC in 2022…but…
Hutchinson could also sneak into things. Lose top point scorer and two solid defenders, but brings pretty much everything else back, including their goalie…but…
Orono is also playing in EP winter league – shout out!
Imagine if Maddyn Greenway (2026, Providence Academy – basketball mega stud) played lacrosse for Mound Westonka/PA’s combo team? Hop on google if you don’t know. She’s a huge problem (maybe THE problem) in basketball and would be a huge problem in lax. Come on Maddyn – track is boring and lacrosse is 175X more interesting than soccer…and you already crush that in the fall!
We didn’t even talk about Shakopee (they don’t list grad years on MN lax hub). They have 2500 students, so they’ll be able to field a competitive lacrosse team.
For the record, we don’t really care so much what the records/results are in the off season tournament/leagues (interesting if they win)…we care more THAT they’re doing off season tournaments/leagues…that’s why teams like SWC and Orono get shout outs…they care enough to get their heads bashed in by some of the big programs in the winter – that means something. EP Winter league just happens to lead into the season, so its marginally more important/interesting. Very marginally.
Rochester Century #2 in Section 1 and SWC #4 in Section 2 – those are some provocative picks…and we haven’t talked about a single “charter” school yet (our favorite charter is probably on the phone with MSHSL right now to combo with Providence Academy to see if Greenway would play – but more on Gentry later).