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Chisago Lakes finished up their unblemished, unbeaten, and oftentimes, unchallenged perfect season with two big wins last week over Forest Lake and St. Michael-Albertville.

Both schools have massive enrollments compared to the Wildcats, but neither have seen success this year on the field, so the Wildcats took it to both teams and finished the regular season 13-0.

Chisago Lakes 15, Forest Lake 3

The ‘Cats cruised to a victory over their Lakes Area rivals on Wednesday, May 22. Olivia Rombosek led the CL offense with four goals on the night, and after that, the wealth was spread around against the overmatched Rangers.

Camryn Hinsch, Aly Vogelsang and Lauren Schmidt each had a pair of goals, Brooke Klemz, Kate Friedner, Evi Reedy, Kamryn Peterson and Madelyn Barten each had a goal, and the defense played absolutely lights out. They only allowed nine shots from the Rangers and, with winning goalie Laura Carlson making five saves, and Michaela Altendorf coming in for a cameo at the end of the game and making a save on the only shot she saw.

Chisago Lakes 12, St. Michael-Albertville 7

Playing on the very next night,  Thursday, May 23, the Wildcats bested the Knights of St. Michael-Albertville in a game that was closer than the Forest Lake match up, but still never in doubt for the ‘Cats.

Camryn and Kamryn, which sounds a bit like a law firm, took the lead for the Wildcat offense against the Knights. Camryn Hinsch had a whopping five goals while Kamryn Peterson had a hat trick with three goals, as the pair outscored STMA by themselves.

Naomi Eaton, Klemz, Reedy and Schmidt picked up the other goals for CL, while Schmidt added two helpers and Reedy and Eaton each had one.

Carlson faced a lot more action in this game, but was stout in net. She saw 17 shots and made 10 saves against the Knights, who were led by Piper Peterson’s four goals.

Section Preview

With the perfect record intact, the Wildcats drew the top seed in Section 7, which is a huge deal for them. They have been great the past two regular seasons, as well, going a combined 26-1, but each season, because of how loaded Section 7 was, they never drew higher than the fourth seed. That meant each of the last two years, they had to face top ranked lacrosse powerhouse Champlin Park in the second round, and the Rebels bounced them both times. 

However, sections are examined every two years, and changes can be made, and this season, Champlin Park landed in Section 5 while CL stayed in Section 7.  The second seed in Section 7 will be Grand Rapids/Greenway, who was 10-2 on the year, while the third seed went to Duluth and their 10-3 mark. On CL’s side of the bracket, they get a bye in the first round and will take on 6-7 Spring Lake Park, who dispatched Hermantown in the play-in round.

If they advance to the semifinals, they’d likely face either Duluth Marshall or Centennial. Marshall is the fourth seed while the Cougars drew the fifth.

Despite having a ridiculous 39-3 record over the last three regular seasons, this is the Wildcats best chance to make it to the state tournament out of those years because of how the section realignment shook out, and they are playing their sharpest lax of the year at just the right time.

Their first match up will be at Chisago Lakes on Thursday, May 30 at 7 p.m. against Spring Lake Park. As long as CL remains alive in the bracket, they’ll play at home. The semi finals would be Tuesday, June 4 at 7 p.m. and the potential section finals would be Thursday, June 6 at 7 p.m.

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