#6 - GIRLS - Maple Grove
This week we are reviewing LaxNumbers #6 ranked Maple Grove
2023 Record
15-1. Lost in section finals to BSM.
Who did they lose (not necessarily everyone, just most notable)?
Emma Crater - GK
3.91 GAA, 54.0% (61/113 saves)
Committed to Dominican – New York, not California (D2)
Ella Olson - A
46 goals, 20 assists, 66 points
Committed to Augsburg (D3, hockey)
Leah Muscatello - A
32 goals, 13 assists, 45 points
Committed to University of Mt. Olive (D2)
Who is returning?
2025 Sosi Van Wyk – A
39 goals, 13 assists, 52 points
2026 Ryley Dunn – M
24 goals, 17 assists, 41 points, 56 DCs
2024 Megan Van Curler – A
15 goals, 14 assists, 29 points
2025 Hadley Kudla – M
13 goals, 7 assists, 20 points, 46 DCs
Instant Reaction
P-Mac’s favorite girls lax all name team doesn’t disappoint.
Maple Grove, for a squad that went undefeated until the section finals, doesn’t list the grad years on MN Lax Hub. Disappointing. Its alright though…just makes us work a little harder than we’d like.
The Future
From our notes and research, we have at least 7 seniors that graduated from MG.
MG had a nice balance between their senior leadership and underclassmen scoring…and the DCs were basically dominated by a 2025 and 2026. Sure, they might be losing a lot, but they have a lot to fill those spots.
Stat Crusade
In our crusade on assist percentage…Maple Grove assisted 122/219 goals scored…55.7%. Right in line again.
For the record, our top 6 teams were 59.1%, 50.1%, 34.8%, 67.4%, 58.7%, and 55.7%.
Maple Grove is either the MOST scrappy team ever or they have the most liberal ground ball stats of any team in MN. They’re so silly, its hard to really glean anything from them. Like 3 with 40+ GBs and 7 with 30+ GBs.
2024 Schedule?
MG isn’t 100% of the way there, but their schedule is shaping up. They’ve got Armstrong, Eden Prairie (new), Elk River Zimmerman, Prior Lake (new), Chanhassen 2X (huh?...but new), BSM (new in the regular season) and Wayzata. BIG IMPROVEMENT in likely strength of schedule. Feels like one of those Chan games is going to fall off, leaving 3 more games to schedule. We have to imagine that Champlin Park will be back on their schedule, with them moving into the section Not too shabby.
Interesting Nugget No One is Talking About
Champlin Park moves from Section 7 to Section 5. There’s a lot going on in Section 5 now (BSM, Maple Grove, Champlin Park, Wayzata, Blake and Armstrong). Pretty sure it’s the only section that can claim 2 state participants…and neither one is Maple Grove. That’s tough sledding.
In Conclusion
The Vans (Wyk and Curler) are going to play major roles with the squad. We love their schedule and we love that they have a chip on their shoulder after losing to BSM last year (based on their fall captains schedule from their website and their very nice showing in the Homegrown fall leauge, they are taking things SERIOUS this year).
The one real glaring spot is having to play an inexperienced goalie. But…this is a large youth program, so they’ve got to be grooming goalies…and all experienced goalies start out as inexperienced goalies. Can’t wait to watch them push BSM for the section crown.
Coming next week: Stillwater