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The Chisago Lakes boys lacrosse team entered the state tournament as a decided underdog last week.

They are one of the smallest public schools to feature lacrosse, and in the one class system, that means they are always battling the behemoths.

Through sections and state, they took on five public schools whose average enrollment is 2,076 students while Chisago Lakes’ is just over 1,000. The only school with similar enrollment was Cretin-Derham Hall (CDH), which is a private school.

With all of that working against the Wildcats, they still made their impressive run to the state tournament, dispatching Andover, Anoka and Centennial High Schools and had a more than respectable showing at the state tourney.

They dropped their first game to Shakopee (enrollment 2,500) before rebounding to beat CDH in the consolation semifinals. In the consolation finals, Moorhead (enrollment 1,846) got the better of CL, ending their season with a sixth place finish in the whole state.

Shakopee 12, Chisago Lakes 3

“With a team like Shakopee, everything needed to go well from the very start and it did not,” Head Coach Mark Nordby said. “They were one of the best teams we've faced all year.”

Both the offense and defense were  struggling to get going early in the contest on Tuesday, June 13 at Stillwater High School.  

On the defensive side, Shakopee had a lot of motion and sent cutters from top and kept our defense moving, the coach said.  The Sabres moved the ball very quickly and the ‘Cats just did not keep the ball out of the net.

As far as the offensive side of the ball, which had been hot and cold through the second half of the season, it went cold at just the wrong time.

"Our offense just never got connected,” Nordby explained. “Shakopee pressed hard and we did not respond well with the type of passing or catching we needed to.”

Max Olson, Kadin Melin and Mason Mehsikomer scored goals for the ‘Cats, with Mehsikomer also winning 12 of the 17 faceoffs he took, giving the ‘Cats plenty of opportunities to control the pace of play.

For Shakopee, senior Linus Toward, who tied with Melin for third in the state in goals in the regular season with 61, scored four goals. Younger brother Landon Toward also netted three for the Sabres.

Chisago Lakes 12   Cretin Derham Hall 7

The Wildcats didn’t dwell on the tough loss to Shakopee, though. 

They bounced back in the consolation bracket to grind out a tough, come-from-behind win over Cretin-Derham Hall, a team that gave eventual state champion Lakeville North all it could handle in the first round, losing just 7-5.

“It was good we could come back to play at least another game in the consolation semifinals,” Nordby said. “We saw on film that Cretin played a lot like Centennial and that we matched up pretty well with them.  We just needed to come out and play Chisago Lakes lacrosse.”

Senior Max Olson got the Wildcats on the board with a lefty shot just moments into the game, and Nordby knew it was the type of start the ‘Cats needed after the slow start against Shakopee.

But, the scoring went dry for CL and Cretin was able to put two goals in for a 2-1 lead over Chisago Lakes after the first quarter.

The Raiders put another one in the second quarter, but Melin responded with a rifle shot from 12 yards out.  Nordby knew the ‘Cats would have to keep the score close if they were going to have a chance to win, as the Raiders play a defensive-minded game that limits opportunities for opponents to score.

At the end of the first half, the Wildcats trailed 4-2, staying within striking range. "We knew we could win the game if we cleaned up our passing and got our offense working,” the coach said. “We had a lot of possessions  but just didn't put the ball in the net.  The guys were a bit frustrated at halftime and we needed to regroup.”

In the third quarter, the Wildcats found their rhythm on offense and went to town on the Raiders, putting in seven goals. The first goal came on a dodge from X by Dylan Dassner who drew the slide and found a wide open  Melin to slam the ball home.

Minutes later in a man-up situation, the Wildcats ran a set play and found a wide open Judah Goerhing, who took a step down shot to tie the game up at 4-4.  “We  were finally getting good looks and moving the ball well,” Nordby said. “The momentum was swinging our way.”

The ‘Cats kept up the third quarter scoring deluge with Olson finding the back of the net three times, another by Goerhing and one off a face-off by Mehsikomer.  “The guys responded huge after being down by two at the half,” Nordby said excitedly. “They were in the groove on the offensive end and the defense stepped up big time. It was a great win and nice to see the guys get a win during the state tournament.”

The 12 goals tied a season high that the Raiders defensive line gave up.

Moorhead 12, Chisago Lakes 6

Nordby said, “We knew Moorhead had a good team and we needed to play very well against them.  It was a tough game all around.  Moorhead pressed hard on their defense which made us grip the sticks a bit too tightly.  Our normally strong passing and catching skills weren't there and Moorhead took advantage of our mistakes,” Nordby explained of the consolation championship game played at White Bear Lake High School on Saturday, June 17.

“It was not our typical game and we had a lot of missed opportunities when we were possessing the ball and staying out of the penalty box,”  coach continued. “It was a tougher game but much of it was from our own mistakes.  It was a hard game to finish for the guys, especially the seniors.  The contrast of how they played in the second half against Cretin and this game was stark. We just never got going.”

Moorhead led 6-3 at half and 8-4 after three quarters. The ‘Cats started to press a bit more in the fourth quarter and that led to four more goals for the Spuds and the final score of 12-6.

Despite the final loss giving the ‘Cats a 16-3 record on the year, Nordby couldn’t say enough about his team and what they’ve accomplished.

"I'm very proud of the guys for placing sixth at state and getting 16 wins on the season,” he said. “It took a lot of hard work and time to get to this level.”

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