Section 5 Preview: 2024 MSHSL Girls Lacrosse
Section 5 was already pretty strong…then they combined up the Robinsdales and had two different parks join (Champlin and St. Louis). Oh yeah…they also have the defending state champions.
Mrs. Pmac’s Source’s Section 5 2024 Projected Top 4
First – Benilde St. Margaret’s
Second – Maple Grove
Third – Champlin Park
Fourth – Wayzata
Keeping Our Eye On – Hopkins
Champlin Park in from Section 7 and St. Louis Park in from Section 2. No one out.
State tournament info from 2007-2023: see full archives here.
Benilde - St. Margaret’s
2023 Record: 17-2
2023 2 seed in Section 5, beat Maple Grove 6-4 in section final. Beat Edina 11-10 to win the 2023 State Championship.
State Tournament Appearances: 3 times - 2021, 2022, 2023. Won state championship in 2023.
Section 5 has 4 writes ups from last year’s top 20. You are more than welcome to read any of them and especially BSM’s, where we break them all down. BSM lost a little last year, and most notable their long time (and Ms. Goalie) Brooke Nelson…but have a TON of production back. Obviously, the keeper is primary question, because #2 in the section is coming hard at them.
Key wins:
Eden Prairie 12-9
Blake 13-10 & 14-6
Woodbury 14-6
Maple Grove 6-4
Chanhassen 17-6
Lakeville South 14-13
Edina 11-10
Key losses:
Lakeville South 16-9
Chanhassen 10-9
Key players they lose:
(3) 2023s
Izzy Garvin (D) - 8 games - D1 Vermont
Fayedra Vang (M) - 24 points - D1 Liberty
Brooke Nelson (GK) - 6.70/56.6% - D1 LaSalle
Key players coming back:
2024 Maggie Graczyk (A) - 116 points
2024 Julia Evens (M) - 97 points/131 DC - D1 Marquette
2025 Charlize Vang (A) - 78 points - D1 Lindenwood
2024 Karsyn Eliott (A) - 31 points - D2 Univesity of Mount Olive
2024 Maddie Kalstas (M) - 16 points/26 DC - D3 Vasser
Maple Grove
2023 Record: 15-1
2023 Lost to BSM in Section 5 finals 6-4 as the 1 seed
State Tournament Appearances: 6 times - 2014, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021
Maple Grove was one of our last undefeated teams in 2023, losing to BSM in the Section 5 championship. We talked about them here, but in a quick summary…they are ALSO losing their goalie, along with a little more production than BSM did, to graduation. However, they have a TON of production coming back and seem to be really pushing their chips all in.
Key wins:
Centennial 11-6
Andover 14-3
Elk River/Zimmerman 10-9
Blake 10-3
Champlin Park 13-7
Wayzata 8-7
Key losses:
BSM 6-4
Key players they lose:
Emma Crater (GK) - 3.91 GAA, 54.0% (61/113 saves) - D2 Dominican – New York
Ella Olson (A) - 66 points - D3 Augsburg (Hockey)
Leah Muscatello (A) - 45 points - D2 Mount Olive
Key players coming back:
2025 Sosi Van Wyk (A) - 52 points
2026 Ryley Dunn (M) - 41 points/56 DC
2024 Megan Van Curler (A) - 29 points
2025 Hadley Kudla (M) - 20 points/46 DC
Champlin Park
2023 Record: 15-4
2023 Won Section 7 and lost to East Ridge in State Consolation
State Tournament Appearances: 4 times - 2013, 2014, 2015, 2023
Congrats to Champlin Park on your Section 7 championship in 2023…your prize is sliding into Section 5 to battle the state champ. Thanks for all the hard work you’ve done!
They’re losing (5) seniors, but only (1) with significant production. They’d be the head and shoulders favorite in Section 7, but here…they’re in a total dog fight. They can 100% battle it out with BSM and MG.
They also get the slight nod for the best social media account in the land…but Moorhead is nipping at your heels on that.
Key wins:
Andover 7-6
Centennial 15-3 & 15-7
Elk River/Zimmerman 11-8
Key losses:
Wayzata 8-5
Maple Grove 13-7
Edina 13-5
Elk River/Zimmerman 11-7
Key players they lose:
(5) 2023s
Megan Peter (A) - 62 points - D3 UWRF
Key players coming back:
2024 Annabelle Johnson (M) - 82 points/78 DC/58 FT/134 GB - D2 Northern Michigan
2024 Lauren Schindlebeck (M) - 59 points/81 DC - D2 UC-Colorado Springs
2024 Eleanor Gregornik (D) - 32 GB - D2 University of Charleston
2026 Reese Hagenbart (A/M) - 56 points
2026 Paige Hagenbart (GK) - 5.19 GAA/47.8%
Wayzata
2023 Record: 7-8
2023 Lost to Maple Grove in Section 5 Semifinals as the 4 seed
State Tournament Appearances: 1 time - 2015
Another team that we don’t understand well enough, let’s welcome Wayzata to the party. They lose (7) 2023s, but have (7) 2025s from last year’s roster coming up. They’re going to want/need to diversify the output lost from Katie Sikorski across some of those 2025s, and others, to create a more balanced attack. They play Champlin Park on April 20, we will have a real nice view of the section pretty early. On that thread…Wayzata plays (6) games in April, including against Buffalo, CP, BSM, Blake, and Minnetonka. Would like to see them win 3 of those, but really need to win 2.
Key wins:
Buffalo 15-10
Champlin Park 8-5
Hopkins 7-2
Key losses:
Blake 10-7
Eden Prairie 10-9
Minnetonka 15-10
BSM 11-5
Hopkins 9-8
Edina 15-7
Andover 10-6
Maple Grove 8-7
Key players they lose:
(7) 2023s
Katie Sikorski (M) - 63 points/45 DC - D1 Akron
Key players coming back:
2025 Ainsley Owens (M) - 27 points/47 DC - D1 Eastern Michigan
2025 Evie Marks (A/M) - 25 points
2024 Delaney Gnos (GK) - 8.42 GAA, 52.6% - D2 UC-Colorado Springs
2024 Shyla Sanders (A) - 22 points
Hopkins
2023 Record: 7-7
2023 Lost to Wayzata in Section 5 Quarterfinal as the 5 seed
State Tournament Appearances: none
This is where things start to get interesting. Hopkins was 7-7 last year, with 1 goal losses to Shako, STMA, and Eastview/Eagan. 6 goals away from being 10-4. We had to go down the list VERY far before we got to senior on their returning points list (the top 8 point earners are coming back). Their goalie is coming back. They were also not afraid of their tougher competition, with wins against Buffalo, Moorhead, and Wayzata! Fun team. Not on our radar last year, and that is one us (applications should be opened to replace us as the source). Section 5 is VERY deep this year. Ranking ahead of Blake, Breck, SLP, Armstrong, Rogers and OPC - couple of big time names in that list.
Key wins:
Buffalo 11-8
Moorhead 11-8
Wayzata 9-8
Key losses:
Eden Prairie 17-5
Minnetonka 18-8
Shakopee 6-5
Edina 14-4
STMA 8-7
Eastview/Eagan 9-8
Wayzata 7-2
Key players they lose:
(7) 2023s
Key players coming back:
2024 Tori Katzenmeyer (M) - 49 points
2024 Lindsay Schuchard (A) - 35 points
2024 Lauren Olson (GK) - 8.79 GAA/55.6%
2024 Avery Shaw (M) - 30 points
Blake
2023 Record: 9-6
2023 Lost to BSM in Section 5 Semifinal as the 3 seed
State Tournament Appearances: 12 times - 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017. 2018. Won State 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014. Won 1999 Northcentral Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association
Part of the Hopkins placement is Blake’s returning situation. Losing 2nd – 6th points scorer. Lost a goalie. Cynthia Lyman is just begging for someone to step up and help her out. If not, teams are going to send doubles at her over and over and over…making it a long year for the Bears.
Key wins:
Simley 12-10
Wayzata 10-7
Hill-Murray 13-9
Key losses:
BSM 13-10 & 14-6
Chanhassen 15-8
Maple Grove 10-3
Eden Prairie 15-14
Edina 15-8
Key players they lose:
(6) 2023s
Ellie Morrison (M) - 44 points/43 DC - D1 Dartmouth
Remy Abraham (A) - 40 points
Sally Countryman (M) - 32 points
Key players coming back:
2024 Cynthia Lyman (M) - 71 points/64 DC - D3 Hobart & William Smith
2025 Jada Chenitz (D) - 26 GB/28 FT
2024 Piper Crow (GK) - 7.05 GAA/54.5% - 4 partial games
Rogers
2023 Record: 8-7
2023 Lost to Maple Grove in Section 5 Quarterfinal as the 8 seed
State Tournament Appearances: none
Coming off an 8-7 campaign, Rogers is looking to build on the new NWSC scheduling and also gets a jump over Armstrong/Cooper and SLP. They lose production, like everyone, but only (3) total seniors, so things are manageable. Their goalie is a 2026, so they have (3) more years with her in net. Things on the rise out in Rogers after this year? Why not this year?
St. Louis Park
2023 Record: 4-10
2023 Lost to Rogers in Section 5 play in game as the 9 seed
State Tournament Appearances: none
St. Louis Park moves ahead of the Robbinsdale co-op. The most notable loss for SLP is (allegedly) 2026 transferring into Orono (they lost (3) 2023s). They’ve been seen in a lot of the off season events, so we like what they’re trying to do there
Armstrong
2023 Record: 7-7
2023 Lost to Blake in Section 5 Quarterfinal as the 6 seed
State Tournament Appearances: 2 times - 2021, 2022
Armstrong combines up with Cooper this year in a move that makes sense for everyone. Cooper shut things down real early last year and Armstrong loses (12) 2023s. The Robbinsdales are going to have to sort things out, so it might be a bumpy road to start things off.
Breck
2023 Record 5-9
2023 Lost to BSM in Section 5 Quarterfinal as the 7 seed
State Tournament Appearances: 1 time - 2019
In the 10 spot, we have Breck. This is a little bit about us not being totally read in on what their JV situation was…but they were 5-9 and lost their leading point scorer (76 points) and second leading scorer (41 points). Next up? 18 points. Of their 5 wins, 1 was 1 goal against Mahotmedi and 1 was 2 goals against Eastview/Eagan. Their game against Prior Lake was cancelled, so we lost that data point in the season as well.
Osseo/Park Center was 1-13 in 2023.