Park players and coaches knew the second meeting with East Ridge this season wouldn’t be a repeat of the first one.

That game, played back on April 18 in the season opener for both teams, ended in a 9-1 Park walkover.

Thursday’s Section 3 quarterfinal at Park was anything but.

Park rallied from a 6-5 deficit to tie the game with just under 12 minutes to play, then won it on Shelby Hansen’s shot with seven seconds left. Josie Leonard and Madi Brinkman brought the ball downfield and set up Hansen’s winning shot.

“It was really, really exciting,” said Hansen, who led Park in scoring with three goals. “I didn’t even know that it happened and my teammates just all came and jumped on me, and it was just a really cool thing.

“I remember coming around the crease but Josie (Leonard) and Madi (Brinkman) were the ones carrying it down the field and they’re the ones who got it to me, so they did all the hard work. I just put it away.”

The win sent the third-seeded Wolfpack (11-3) to the section semifinals and a game at second-seeded Cretin-Derham Hall (11-3) Tuesday, June 7 in the section semifinals. The Raiders won the regular season game between the two teams 10-5, Park’s lowest scoring game of the season.

East Ridge finished the spring at 5-9.

“We gave up a two-goal lead and were down a goal and there was no quit, you know sometimes in these team sports you give up a two-goal lead and it’s easy to give up another three after that,” said Park head coach Scott Leonard. “We preserved and Shelby had quite a few good chances all night and she always tries to give us a heart attack and finished it off with seven seconds to go.”

Thursday’s game was tight throughout. Park led 3-2 at the break, then went up 4-3 on a goal by Kyleigh Mullen with 19 minutes to play. Josie Leonard gave the Wolfpack a 5-3 lead with 17:04 left before the Raptors stormed back with three straight goals to take a 6-5 lead.

Hansen delivered the game-tying shot with 9:55 to play. Then both teams had their chances to score before the frantic final seconds.

Thought the Wolfpack brought more energy to the second half.

“The first half I think we were getting a little nervous there,” said Leonard. “I think we knew we had to bring it in the second half. We were all super nervous, but we tried to hide it.”

Leonard had two goals and an assist for Park. Megan Husaby and Mullen got the other two scores for the Wolfpack.

“It was a totally different game than the first game we played,” said Shauna Miller. “And I think we’ve both have grown as teams, both defensively and offensively. It was a completely different game than the beginning of the season.

Aubree Laska got the win in goal, stopping nine of 15 shots.

“We played them early in the year and we knew they had a new coaching staff and coach (Rich) Limpert and I go back 16 years together,” said Scott Leonard. “He was the head Park/ Woodbury boys’ coach. I knew once we got a little time with their girls, they’ve got a good group of athletes. … We knew we were in for a dogfight with them tonight.”

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Park players surround Shelby Hansen after she scored the winning goal against East Ridge with seven seconds left in the game. Photo by John Molene