I think we need to protect the ball, trust our teammates, have confidence in each other and in ourselves and I think we can go all the way.”

Kyra Stoffer

After a first-round bye, Park had little trouble overcoming the ninth-seeded St. Paul/Two Rivers Ducks Thursday in a Section 3A girls lacrosse quarterfinals, winning 15-5.
Park won its ninth straight game, improving to 13-1 on the season. St. Paul/Two River’s season ended at 3-12.
Park advanced to the semifinals on Tuesday and a match against conference rival and fifth-seeded Woodbury (7-7) in the semifinals. Woodbury edged Simley 12-11 in another quarterfinal game Thursday.
In the other half of the section bracket Thursday, second-seeded and tenth-ranked East Ridge pounded seventh-seeded Visitation 24-1, while third-seeded Cretin-Derham Hall blasted St. Croix Preparatory Academy 17-4. East Ridge and Cretin were to play Tuesday with the winner advancing to the section finals against the Park-Woodbury winner.
In Thursday’s game, Park broke out to a 5-0 lead after one quarter, led 10-0 at the half and 14-1 after three quarters. Park’s reserves played most of the fourth.
Josie Leonard, Madi Brinkman and Maleah McMorrow shared scoring honors for the Wolfpack, each with three goals. Lilly Newhouse had two goals for Park. Sidni Gitzen, Meika Hunter, Alaina Wright and Kyra Stofer netted one each.
Park’s defense held the Ducks to just six shots on goal.
“I think we did really good on our transitions and getting the ball up the field and executing on that,” said Park senior Sam Miller. “I think we did good on placing our shots and I think our goalie did well with her save percentage and overall, just being positive with each other.”
Asked if the Wolfpack were where he’s hoped they would be at this stage of the season, Park head coach Scott Leonard said no.
“If you go back to the beginning of the year we’re way up, way ahead of where I thought we’d be,” said Leonard. “But the way we’re playing lately, yeah, this was a good contest. We did a lot of really good things tonight so I’m very happy with what we got.”
“I think we’ve improved a lot since the beginning of the season,” agreed junior Kyra Stoffer. “I feel like everyone has gotten a lot more confident with the ball and we’re playing as a team every game.”
The next games will be more challenging, Leonard agreed.
“We know these final four are going to be – it’s going to be whoever has the ball last or whoever plays the best defense is going to win the next two rounds of playoffs,” said Leonard.
“I think we need to protect the ball, trust our teammates, have confidence in each other and in ourselves and I think we can go all the way,” said Stoffer.
POLLS
One curious thing about the state girls' lacrosse polls. Park was ranked ninth two weeks ago, then dropped out of last week’s poll. East Ridge was unranked two weeks ago but entered the poll at No. 10 after lopsided wins over Simley (15-3) and Visitation (24-1).