Girls Lax: Ms. Lacrosse and Ms. Goalie
Uncle Ted gave us a lot of homework lately. Check out our write ups in the blog section:
We have a few more in the hopper as well - check this space.
This assignment was do identify some Ms. Lacrosse and Ms. Goalie candidates. Why? Mostly because we don’t trust anyone else to cover it even once the winners are named, much less leading into the awards season.
We were going to start with a quick question/answer about what were the actual awards are. This lead us down in a lot more paths than we’d ever have guessed. Since that devolved into way more than we wanted, we moved that to the bottom of this article to not take away from the players, which is the real point - right?
Ms. Lacrosse
What are we looking for? From the description below, “the most outstanding senior lacrosse player in Minnesota”:
they have to be field players
they have to be seniors
Got it, let’s go!
Its easy to look at stats and we’ll do that, don’t worry. We also have to do a little eye testing on some of these players, because, while we like stats, stats don’t tell the entire story. And all stats will be based on what is in MN Lax Hub as of May 25, 2024 (aka the end of the regular season).
This list isn’t who we think will win the award, its not how we rank these players, and its not the top 7 actual nominees. Its in alphabetical order, by last name, that WE came up with ourselves - calm down everyone.
Ella Berg, M: Gentry Academy
College Commit: Louisville, NCAA D1
Stats: 55 Goals/56 Assists (111 points), 58 Draw Controls - 12 games
Ella is the straw that stirs Gentry’s drink, and she does a lot of stirring. Calling her quick doesn’t do her justice. Equal parts scorer and distributor. Go watch her game on SpudTV against Moorhead from May 18. Dismiss her at your own risk.
Sadie Chappuis, M: Prior Lake
College Commit: Colorado Mesa University, NCAA D2
Stats: 26 Goals/14 Assists (40 points), 61 Draw Controls - 13 games
Stats for Prior Lake are tough to judge on. Most teams have 1-2 or maybe 3 options, while anyone on PL’s offensive side can score on any play. Sadie is the emotional and physical leader for the Lakers and her scrappy play at the draw circle often starts the Lakers break.
Julia Evens, M: Benilde St. Margaret’s
College Commit: Marquette, NCAA D1
Stats: 37 Goals/33 Assists (70 points), 71 Draw Controls - 13games
Evens is tall, is fast, and can get her shot off quick, hard and from any angle. Any game she doesn’t score 4+ goals seems like a win for her opponent…and they play a stout schedule.
Annabelle Johnson, M: Champlin Park
College Commit: University of Northern Michigan, NCAA D2
Stats: 34 Goals/39 Assists (73 Points), 47 Draw Controls, 63 Ground Balls, 49 Caused Turnovers - 13 games
Its time to start showing Champlin Park the respect they’ve earned and that starts with talking about Annabelle’s performance. Their ride causes teams alot of headaches and her time there is almost as critical as her time on offense and draw.
Cynthia Lyman, M: Blake
College Commit: Hobart & Williams, NCAA D3
Stats: 58 Goals/18 Assists (76 points), 104 Draw Controls - 13 games
Blake hasn’t had the season they’d want to have recordwise, but not because of Cynthia’s performance. She’s been a mega contributor for Blake since 2021 and that hasn’t changed this year.
Sydney Meyers, M: East Ridge
College Commit: Minnesota (not lacrosse)
Stats: 44 Goals/14 Assists (58 points), 50 Draw Controls - 13 games
Sydney pairs up great with Keira Limpert as the two pronged offensive attack for the Raptors. She’s smooth sliding in and out of the 8m with and without the ball - she could find a spot very easily on Minnesota’s club squad if she wants.
Sivanna O’Brien, M: Lakeville South
College Commit: Minnesota (not lacrosse)
Stats: 33 Goals/15 Assists (48 points), 74 Draw Controls - 11 games
Sivanna is the third member of South’s first middie line, but that’s not a knock. Usually setting up on the offensive side of the circle, she’s the recipient of Tshida’s draw dominance, so she’s usually the spark that starts the fire of South’s offense. At one time, she was committed to Domincan of CA, but she’s going to go live her best life in college.
Tori Tschida, M: Lakeville South
College Commit: Temple, NCAA D1
Stats: 32 Goals/23 Assists (55 points), 46 Draw Controls - 13 games
Stats do not tell the Tori Tschida story. She’s the most dominant draw taker in MN and almost always pushes the ball forward, giving South basically a fast break opportunity on every draw.
Avery Wallace, M: Eden Prairie
College Commit: Akron University, NCAA D1
Stats: 44 Goals/10 Assists (54 Points), 61 Draw Controls - 13 games
Avery matches Josie almost every step of the way for EP.
Josie Wallace, M: Eden Prairie
College Commit: Kent State University, NCAA D1
Stats: 46 Goals/11 Assists (57 Points), 61 Draw Controls - 13 games
Josie and her sister lead EP and are the midfield leaders or EP. Their stats are almost indentical…but Josie has a few more Caused Turnovers.
Sofia Watts, M/A: Cretin-Derham Hall
College Commit: University of Colorado - Colorado Springs, NCAA D2
Stats: 61 Goals/20 Assists (82 points), 72 Draw Controls - 13 games
Sofia is the center to the three headed attach CDH employs, but it all starts with her. She splits time with Jordin Rosga taking the draw and being on the draw circle, and that’s how CDH opens their offense sets.
Now…we included exactly zero defensive players in that list, which obviously isn’t fair. They don’t get all of the awards or recognition that they deserve, so let’s get them a little bit here:
Lauren Deering - Gentry - D1 Iona
Jaydn Hahn - Chanhassen - D2 Grand Valley State University
Piper Green - Prior Lake - D2 Colorado Mesa
Ruby Swensen - Minnetonka - D2 Grand Valley State University
Ms. Goalie
Katie Colleran, G: Chanhassen
College Commit: Concordia St. Paul, NCAA D2
Stats: 9.04 GAA, 59.7% Save Percentage - 12 games
Katie has seen more Shots on Goal per game then she did last year. That’s shown by her save percentage being up (59.7% up from 47.0% last year), with her GAA average basically the same (9.04 from 9.05 last year). Chan’s losses on offense don’t reflect on Katie’s performance.
Addison Kraus, G: Southwest Christian
College Commit: N/A
Stats: 8.00 GAA, 50.9% Save Percentage - 13 games
The haters will complain about strength of schedule…and if that the case, thats not Addison’s fault.
Izzy Orton, G: East Ridge
College Commit: UW-River Falls, NCAA D3
Stats: 5.87 GAA, 44.7% Save Percentage - 13 games
Orton is super active in and out of the goal circle and is fearless when she leaves it. UWRF is getting a good one next year.
Abby Quiram, G: Maple Grove
College Commit: University of Northern Michigan, NCAA D2
Stats: 8.56 GAA, 40.6% Save Percentage - 13 games
Abby’s stats are victim to a few shootouts against Prior Lake and Eden Praire earlier in the season, but she’s locked things down a lot since, holding Chan to 6 goals and BSM to 8 goals.
Now - what are these awards? Fantastic question…and of course it yields an overly wordy answer.
Go google “MN ms lacrosse” and you’ll be hit with his link: https://www.minnesotaminutemen.com/page/show/413479-ms-lacrosse-
That’s awesome, except the most recent winner there is from 2020…when there was not even a season. If you dig deeper in their history page, the info stops at 2017.
Anyway, what are these awards? From their website:
“The Mr. and Ms. Lacrosse Awards program is in its 8th year and has been growing in popularity. It was developed by the Minnesota Minute Men and honors "the most outstanding senior lacrosse player in Minnesota." The program was modeled after the more established Mr. Hockey program, also developed by the Minute Men. Represented on the panel will be MSHSL high school coaches, NCAA coaches, scouts, referees, members of the media and other lacrosse enthusiasts.”
It goes on to say:
“The Mr. & Ms. Lacrosse Award is given to the most outstanding High School Lacrosse, Senior Player in the State of Minnesota and is selected by a panel of National Lacrosse League Representatives including: Men's College Lacrosse Association Coaches, NCAA Women's Lacrosse Coaches, Minnesota State High School League Coaches, North Central Schoolgirls Lacrosse Association Coaches, Minnesota Boys Scholastic Lacrosse Association Coaches, Minnesota Coaches Association, and select Minnesota Lacrosse Community Members.
To determine a Mr. & Ms. Lacrosse, the selection panel selects the top 7 senior lacrosse players and top 2 goalies from the total pool of High School aged lacrosse players in Minnesota. From those 7 outstanding senior players and 2 top notch senior goalies, a Mr. & Ms. Lacrosse recipient and Mr. & Ms. Goalie will be determined.
The 7 finalists and 2 goalies for the Mr. & Ms. Lacrosse Awards will be announced at the end of May. The Banquet for the Mr. & Ms. Lacrosse Award will be held on Sunday, June 18th at 2:00 PM at the Double Tree Hotel in St. Louis Park, the Sunday after the State High School League Championships.”
Ok, fine. Who are the Minnesota Minute Men? From their website:
“The Minute Men were organized in 1954 when the city, business, sports and civic leaders decided that in order to attract major league baseball, and football a stadium should be built in Bloomington, Minnesota. The purpose of the Minute Men is to assist and promote professional sports in the Twin Cities Area, to sell tickets, advertise and promote special events and to honor and pay tribute to individuals or teams, who through professional achievement have brought unusual and significant publicity to themselves and the citizens of the Twin Cities. The broadened scope of the Minute Men activities includes amateur sports and charitable donations to other worthy organizations.”
We weren’t really getting anywhere. Time to start acting like a journalist.
We did some calling around and eventually got in touch with Loren Feldkamp. And Loren filled in a lot of blanks for us!
OK, who REALLY are the MN Minute Men?
Well, like they said, the MN Minute Men were an org that helped facilitate professional sports in Minnesota in the 1950s…back when professional sports weren’t the absurd money machines they are now. As times changed and the areas where they could help changed, the MMM focused more on amateur athletics. As they morphed their mission, they supported and advocated for both men/women (or boys/girls) athletics, so changing the name from the MN Minute Men made sense, and that is the birth of the MN All Sport Alliance.
What about the goalie awards? Who is Jake Anderson and why are the goalie awards named after him?
Its a really good reason and we wish is was explained better for everyone. The goalie awards are named after Jake, a former Orono goalie, who passed away at age 19, in December of 2013. The goalie awards are named in his honor, in addition to Orono boys and girls honoring Jake each year.
So, the MN All Sport Alliance is a lot like the rest of us lacrosse fans in MN…trying to figure out a way to promote the sport in MN and doing so in the ways that make most sense to ourselves.
For DTA: Its having a pod, writing some blogs, being clueless on predictions, tell a few lame jokes and talking about food.
For the MN All Sports Alliance - they want to recognize and honor the top lacrosse field players and goalies each year, in addition to their honoring Mr/Ms Hockey and Mr Baseball/Ms Softball. So, for that, we all need to say thank you to them for helping keep our sport relavent in MN.
There. We all know a little more about the Mr/Ms Lacrosse awards, who determines them and what is going on.
Thanks to Loren Feldkamp for taking the time to chat with us.