Section 3 Preview: 2024 MSHSL Girls Lacrosse
The crew thought Section 2 was interesting…wait until we get into Section 3!
We struggled really hard on the order of these. Its changed a few times, even as we wrote this. This should be a great pod discussion, so we went a little deeper with our deep dive.
No changes in or out of Section 3 this year.
Mrs. Pmac’s Source’s Section 3 2024 Projected Top 4
First – East Ridge
Second – Park of Cottage Grove
Third – Woodbury
Fourth – Cretin-Derham Hall
Keeping Our Eye On – Simley
State tournament info from 2007-2023: see full archives here.
East Ridge
2023 Record: 13-6
2023 Won Section 3 from the 3 seed by beating Simley 9-8.
State Tournament Appearances: 1 time - 2023
The top three are really close. Really close. We put East Ridge on top for three reasons:
They won the section and that counts as a tie breaker of sorts to us.
They have a little more coming back, including their goalie
They have (14) 2024s
While they have (14) 2024s, they are led by 2025 Keira Limpert. She had 74 points and will eat up a lot over older sister’s 105 DCs being left behind, after her heading to D2 Palm Beach Atlantic. They also bring back 68 point scorer Sydney Meyers and 40 point scorer Maggie Pape…along with D3 commit Izzy Orton in goal. We missed the boat on them this year (hand up), but we are read in on them this coming year.
How did they make their run to section championship? They played some tough games the first half of the season and then went almost a month without losing at the end of the season, including avenging an earlier season 10 goal loss to CDH, by winning 17-7.
Key wins:
Woodbury (6-5)
White Bear Lake (7-6)
Hill Murray (13-12)
St. Croix Prep (16-6)
CDH (17-7)
Simley (9-8)
Champlin Park (11-7)
Key losses:
Stillwater (14-3 & 13-7)
Mahtomedi (10-9)
CDH (18-8)
Park (5-3)
Elk River/Zimmerman (11-9)
Key players they lose:
(8) 2023s in total
Annika Limpert (A/M) - 63 points, 105 DC - D2 Palm Beach Atlantic
Taylor Griffith (A) - 59 points - D2 Rockhurst
Capri Meyer (A) - 31 points
Key players they bring back:
2025 Keira Limpert (M) - 74 points/28 DC/55 GB
2024 Sydney Meyers (A) - 68 points
2024 Maggie Pape (M) - 40 points
2024 Izzy Orton (GK) - 7.68 GAA/45.9% - D3 UW River Falls
Park of Cottage Grove
2023 Record 13-2
2023 1 seed in Section 3, upset by Simley in section semifinals.
State Tournament Appearances: 1 time - 2009 as South Washington County with Woodbury
EDITOR’S NOTE POST LIVE SHOW, PRE PODCAST RELEASE: We messed this one up…they were at state in 2009 and not 2019. Our bad. Sorry for the disrespect.
OK…so now CDH or Park or Woodbury? We literally just changed this as we wrote this section and all three teams have a lot of excellent pieces back, but are also all flawed. We are taking Park at #2. They have stuff coming back - specifically 2025s Josie Leonard and Madi Brinkman, but do lose their leading point scorer. Just as important, Park brings back 2025 in goal, Aubree Laska. We are REALLY worried though that this is going to be a repeat of what CDH went through – they NEED to have someone else step up…we are betting that there is a youngster that’s going to contribute, but seeds 1-5 are really tight here.
Key wins:
Stillwater (6-5: Honestly…this is the only win in the section against one of the top 10 programs in the state).
White Bear Lake (7-6)
Simley (15-9)
East Ridge (5-3)
CDH (7-5)
Key losses:
Woodbury (12-10)
Simley (8-7)
Key players they lose:
(6) 2023s
Shelby Hansen - 78 points/41 DC - D2 Concordia St. Paul
Key players they bring back:
(8) 2024s
2025 Madi Brinkman (M) - 52 points/82 DC
2025 Josie Leonard (M) - 49 points/50 DC
2025 Aubree Laska (GK) - 4.83 GAA/52.0%
Woodbury
2023 Record 8-6
2023 4 seed in Section 3, upset by Simley in section quarterfinals.
State Tournament Appearances: 1 time - 2009 as South Washington County with Park
EDITOR’S NOTE POST LIVE SHOW, PRE PODCAST RELEASE: We messed this one up…they were at state in 2009 and not 2019. Our bad. Sorry for the disrespect.
No kidding, Woodbury moved from 4th to 3rd as we wrote this. They get their top 3 and 5th leading scorers back, they get their goalie back who sported a .609 save percentage…but 10.21 GAA (defense…help your goalie out, please). They did lose Ali Hoschka and her 37 points, but losing only (3) 2023s means you’re bringing back a team with experience. We like the spread of their offense and the goalie back in the cage.
Key wins:
Hill-Murray (9-8)
Simley (12-11)
Park (12-10)
Key losses:
East Ridge (6-5)
CDH (15-8)
White Bear Lake (13-10)
Stillwater (11-10)
BSM (16-5)
Simley (16-10)
Key players they lose:
(3) 2023s
Allison Hoschka (A) - 37 points
Key players they bring back:
2024 Kate Hooley (A) - 56 points - D1 UMass Lowell
2024 Ella Kodl (A) - 47 points - D3 U of Chicago
2024 Liv Mishacoff (A) - 44 points
2025 Shelby Marik (M) - 30 points - D2 Concordia St. Paul
Cretin-Derham Hall
2023 Record 9-6
2023 2 seed in Section 3, upset by East Ridge in section semifinals.
State Tournament Appearances: 3 times - 2016, 2017, 2019
CDH – Putting them in the 4th spot, with potential 2024 Ms. Lacrosse (more on that way later) candidate Sofia Watts (86 points) and 2028 phenom Jordin Rosga (94 points)? Yeah – here’s why…Losing Anna Stangler feels like a big deal, along with the other (10) 2023s that graduated. That’s almost half of the team (check out the deep dive)!
In the games we watched (we watched a few), Anna was a steadying influence that allowed the two stars to shine as bright as they did. Their goalie situation wasn’t the best in the state…but the two they had were both 2023s, so we are going to have to wait to see what their options are. People figured them out at the end of the season and we just don’t see a path where that is drastically different…and the overall skill of the section has gone up.
Now - this argument falls totally apart if they manage to recruit in some players, as does any. And with (11) 2023s to replace…there is lots of reason to dip into the Joe Mauer recruiting slush fund, for a little NIL dip. If The West Metro All-Stars can do it for hockey…why not CDH for a little lax?
So, what really happened last year?
They had some gaudy wins against these section opponents, but ended up not really amounting too much?
Through May 12, they were 8-2 with their losses to White Bear Lake and Stillwater. Would have liked them to get the W over WBL, but no shame in losing to Stillwater.
They lost 4 out of the last 5, beating Visitation and losing to Chanhassen, Park, Buffalo, and East Ridge.
Not really a “strong” finish to the year there.
Key wins:
Mahtomedi (16-5)
Woodbury (15-8)
East Ridge (18-8)
Key losses:
White Bear Lake (9-8)
Stillwater (15-12)
Chanhassen (11-9)
Park (7-5)
Buffalo (15-12)
East Ridge (17-7)
Key players they lose:
(11) 2023s
Anna Stangler (M) - 44 points/59 DC
Margarita Lucio (GK) - 10.20 GAA/41.4% - D2 Concordia St. Paul
Key players they bring back:
2024 Sofia Watts (M) - 86 points/66 DC - D2 UCCS
2028 Jordin Rosga (M) - 94 points/77 DC
2025 Jane Stangler (DM) - 31 points/19 DC
Simley
2023 Record 8-8
2023 5 seed in Section 3, lost to East Ridge in section finals.
State Tournament Appearances: none
Big stretch here…putting your 5th ranked team in the one to keep on eye on, but Section 3 is deep and Simley shows that. They lost a 1 goal game to our #1 ranked squad in the Section 3 Championship last year, returning essentially all of their offense (led by the Kurowski sisters) and have their goalie back. We like all of that.
Of the (6) 2023s they lose, (5) are listed as defenders, with no one else returned with a “D” next to their game…so that’s going to be an issue, especially early in the season. If they get the defense sorted out…they can win this section, no question. Regardless, we expect them to get better as the year goes on.
Key wins:
Mahtomedi (14-9)
Woodbury (16-10)
Park (8-7)
Key losses:
Blake (12-10)
Prior Lake (19-2)
Woodbury (12-11)
Rosemount (16-6)
Hill Murray (15-14)
Park (15-7)
Gentry (13-3)
East Ridge (9-8)
Key players they lose:
(6) 2023s
Key players they bring back:
2025 Courtney Kurowski (M) - 64 points/51 DC - D2 Wingate
2024 Hannah Kurowski (M) - 50 points - D3 College of St. Benedict’s
2024 Avery Renslow (A) - 39 points
2024 Madison West (GK) - 9.08 GAA/50.0%
St. Croix Prep
2023 Record 9-5
2023 6 seed in Section 3, lost to East Ridge in section quarterfinals.
State Tournament Appearances: none
The owner of P-mac’s favorite hedge fund logo, SCP is a little interesting. If there was a team that was returning three of top four leading scorers and their goalie…and the team was 9-5 last year…would they be the 6th ranked team in a section? That’s where we are at in Section 3 and that’s St. Croix Prep. Love their schedule (Simley, Eastview, White Bear Lake, Visitation, and Chisago Lakes are the notables), so they’re going to be part of the Section 3 discussion. Don’t quite have the horsepower for the top 5 this year…this discussion gets even more interesting with them and Section 3 in 2025.
Their key wins/losses: they beat Holy Angels 14-10, only to lose to them later in the year 13-11. They also lost to Eastview/Eagan 10-7, Gentry 14-2, WBL 16-14, and East Ridge 16-6). They were 9-1, but lost their last 4 games.
Key players they lose: (5) 2023s, highlighted by Irelyn Kelly and her 36 points
Key players they bring back:
2026 Eden Lothenbach - 60 points
2025 Soren Barrios - 42 points
2027 Grace Garvin - 30 points
So…they have a lot of youth, but they don’t even play some of the mid tier squads. They have Simley and Eastview on their schedule this year…for them to be considered any higher, they got to pop one of these mid tier programs.
Visitation
2023 Record 8-6
2023 7 seed in Section 3, lost to CDH in section quarterfinals.
State Tournament Appearances: none
Our 7th ranked team in Section 3 was 8-6 last year. Visitation is that squad and they too have an appropriate schedule, noted by Simley, St. Croix Prep, St. Louis Park.
Hastings
2023 Record 6-8
2023 8 seed in Section 3, lost to Park in section quarterfinals.
State Tournament Appearances: none
Hastings went from 2-11 in 2022 to 6-8 in 2023. That’s awesome improvement! That’s also probably a lot on the backs of (15) 2023s, right? Well, 4/5 of their top scorers are back this year. Their only goalie with any stats is gone, but they’re going to have enough offense to stay competitive.
St. Paul/Two Rivers (2023 3-11: 9 seed in Section 3, lost to Hastings in play in game. State Tournament Appearances: 1 time - 2022 as part of Gentry Academy co-op) and St. Paul Academy (2023 2-12: 10 seed in Section 3, los to Visitation in play in game. State Tournament Appearances: none)
Sorry…give us info and we’ll talk about your squads. Don’t and we cannot.