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This was the season the Chisago Lakes girls lacrosse team was supposed to break through and earn their first ever state tournament bid. Everything was in place for their success. They dominated the regular season with a 13-0 record, they drew the top seed in Section 7 and had some of the top teams from last year vacate from their section.

It all was lined up for the Wildcats, but their season came to a screeching and shocking halt on Tuesday, June 4 when they were upset 8-7 by the fifth-seeded Centennial Cougars, who started section play with a 6-7 record and were on a six game losing streak. Granted, they broke that with two wins to start section play, but Chisago Lakes certainly was the favored team in the match up.

The Wildcats, who had averaged over 13 goals per game this year and only once were held below the 10 goal mark, were locked up by Centennial’s defense and their ball control. The Cougars didn’t give Chisago Lakes’ potent scorers room to make their creative shots and passes and it became a battle of attrition. Naomi Eaton scored two goals for the Wildcats, but she was the only player with multiple goals for CL. Camryn Hinsch, who averaged almost three goals per game, was held to just one score, with other tallies going to Brooke Klemz, Evi Reedy, Kamryn Peterson and Linnea Carlson.

Chisago Lakes’ defense played well, keeping Centennial at bay for long stretches, but the Cougar offense did just enough on their 15 shots to win the game and upset CL in the “battle of the big cats.”

The frustrating part for the Wildcats is that there was another upset on the other side of the bracket. The sixth-seeded Andover Huskies, who were just 4-9 in the regular season and also entered section play on a six game losing streak, beat second-seeded Grand Rapids 11-5. The section was ripe for the taking for a northern team, but it ends up being a familiar Northwest Suburban Conference matchup for the chance to go to state.

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