The girls from last year this year, and all the younger players stepping up. They’re doing their jobs this year. It’s been amazing.”

Coach Leonard

Perhaps it wasn’t the perfect ending to an otherwise perfect season the Park players might have been dreaming about. But it was pretty darn close.

Second-seeded Park dominated fifth-seeded and defending state champion Lakeville South, winning 15-5, to finish third in the 2025 state girls' lacrosse tournament Saturday at Eden Prairie High School.
It was Park’s first appearance in the state tournament as a standalone entity and this Wolfpack team set a very high benchmark for all future Park girls lacrosse teams to aspire to.

The Wolfpack finished 18-1 overall, their only loss on the season to archrival Stillwater, an excruciating 11-10 last-second decision in the tournament semifinals Thursday.

“The overall season – it’s just been amazing,” said coach Leonard who will retire this season after coaching Park for 19 seasons, leaving with a record of 193-98-2. “They come to work every day, at practice and they know how we play. The girls from last year this year, and all the younger players stepping up. They’re doing their jobs this year. It’s been amazing.

“Today, I wasn’t sure how we’d come out after falling,” Leonard added. “I could see us having a bad first quarter or something, but they came ready to go. On the bus today they were just light and ready to go, they weren’t stressed out. It was fun to see.”

Lakeville South finished 14-5 on the season. Top-seeded Prior Lake (19-0) capped an undefeated season with a 13-8 victory over Stillwater (15-3) in the championship game.

Park was so close to being in Saturday’s finals that playing in the third-place game seemed a bit anticlimactic. But the Wolfpack didn’t show any signs of being in a funk as they dominated the game against Lakeville South from start to finish.

Pak led 4-1 after one period, 7-2 at the half and 11-3 after three periods.

Seniors Josie Leonard and Madi Brinkman – both named to the all-tournament team -- closed out their stellar Park careers in style, Leonard scored three goals with three assists while Brinkman led Park with four goals.

“It feels good,” said Leonard. “It’s obviously not like a state championship but it’s still a big deal and it’s a fun thing to accomplish. We worked hard and it just feels good to end the season like this.”

Morgan Brinkman had three goals and an assist, Sidni Gitzen and Kyra Stoffer two goals each, Maleah McMorrow one goal and one assist.

Park’s defense held Lakeville South to just 11 shots. Lauryn Ehrenstrom played the second half in goal and had four saves in seven shots. Aubree Laska allowed two goals on four attempts in the first half.

“I think that our communication was super well, and on the D-side today we were all yelling at each other, in a good way,” said Laska. “We were all communicating. We were all having fun, we were helping each other to know where to go. That’s something that our team works on a lot.”

Park will return a strong nucleus to build around next season. But the contributions of this year’s senior class will be difficult to duplicate. The Wolfpack must replace leading scorers Madi Brinkman (66 goals, 17 assists) and Josie Leonard (55 goals, 26 assists)), attacker Kyra Stofer (23 goals), goalie Aubree Laska (9-1, 36 saves, .514 save rate), defenders Hollen Thompson (19 ground balls, 12 forced turnovers) and Emily Lettner (8 ground balls, 6 forced turnovers) and midfielder/defender Lily Hess (10 ground balls, 10 forced turnovers).
Asked what she will remember about this season, senior Kyra Stofer said, “I think this the way that we became a family this season and we really know how one of each other’s boundaries are and limits are and how to push each other to be the best athletes that we can be.”

Those seniors -- notably Brinkman, Leonard and Laska -- who all started and starred for most of the last four years, led Park to a four-year record of 55-9, one section championship, a section runner-up finish, two section semifinal berths and a first-ever state tournament berth for the Wolfpack.

“I think all of us like all of us growing up here, all of the seniors, we’ve been together for so long,” said Brinkman. “We were on the first ever youth team together. So, growing up we already had that connection and I think that helped us get to third place at state.”

Key players returning include sophomore midfielder Maleah McMorrow (35 goals, 19 assists), junior goalie Lauryn Ehrenstrom (47 saves. .475 save rate), attackers Alaina Wright (16 goals, 10 assists), Sidni Gitzen (20 goals, 6 assists), Lexi Sullivan and Morgan Brinkman (19 goals, 2 assists), defenders Lila Krumrie (22 ground balls, 9 forced turnovers), midfielder/defender Olivia Czarnota (8 ground balls, 6 forced turnovers) and attacker/midfielders Alyssa Hill (4 ground balls, 2 forced turnovers) and Taylor Siemer (16 ground balls, 5 forced turnovers).

“I just think that this year we are a really tight knit group like I started here my eighth-grade year, and I’ve grown as a player because of this program and I’m going to miss my best friends next year,” said McMorrow.

The returners will be charged with keeping the girls lacrosse traditions rolling next season.

Stillwater 11, Park 10

Longtime rivals Park and Stillwater mixed it up again Thursday in the semifinals of the girls' state lacrosse tournament at Eden Prairie High School and the results were anything but typical. Until the end that is.

Stillwater run roughshod over the Wolfpack early in the early going, leading 6-, then 7-2 at the half and 9-3 with 4:07 left in the third quarter. Those kinds of leads are almost impossible to overcome in girls' lacrosse. But then something finally clicked for the Wolfpack. All of a sudden Park was on the offensive and everything started working. The Wolfpack came all the way back to tie the game t 10-all, only to fall 11-10 on a Stillwater goal with 10 seconds remaining.

“We started doing what we thought we were supposed to be doing, from the beginning,” said coach Leonard. “We just kind of looked brain dead for a whole period and a half, like throwing the ball from out of bounds, not chasing shots, not chasing a shot after it was taken and shooting high. We’ve been saying all year we can’t shoot high, we can’t shoot high and we got plenty of opportunities after that and we just started doing what we were supposed to do. When we do what we’re supposed to do we’re as good as any team in the state.”

It was a heartbreaking loss for the Wolfpack and several of the Park players had to fight back tears as the game, and a chance to play for a state title, evaporated.

It was the first loss of the season for Park (17-1) and a tough pill to swallow, especially for the team’s seven seniors.

Not much has separated Park and Stillwater the past few girls' lacrosse seasons. The two teams tied for the Suburban East Conference title in 2023 and 2024. Three of the last four games between the two rivals have been decided by one goal, two wins by Park and one by the Ponies.

This one will go in the record books as more of the same, a one-goal decision. But how the two teams ended up at that stage was very different.

Stillwater controlled the early going. But after Stillwater took a 7-2 halftime lead, Park outscored the Ponies 4-3 in the third and then dominated the fourth period, scoring four goals for one for the Ponies. But that one was a backbreaker.

Madi Brinkman scored five goals to lead Park. Maleah McMorrow and Kyra Stofer had two goals each. Josie Leonard was held to just one goal but added four assists, giving her five points for the game.

Prior Lake defeated Lakeville South 20-11 in Thursday’s other quarterfinal to reach the finals.

Park 18, Elk River/Zimmerman 10

A fired-up Josie Leonard scored a career high seven goals to lead second-seeded Park to a comfortable 18-10 win over seventh-seeded Elk River/Immerman in the quarterfinals of the girls' state lacrosse tournament Tuesday.

Park led 6-4 after one period, 9-6 at the half and 14-8 after three periods.

Madi Brinkman scored four goals for the Wolfpack, Kyra Stofer three, Maleah McMorrow two, while Morgan Brinkman and Alaina Wright added one each.

Third-seeded Stillwater overcame sixth-seeded Maple Grove 16-10 to advance to the semifinals.

In other quarterfinal games Tuesday at Chaska, top-seeded Prior Lake easily got past eighth-seeded Chisago Lakes, winning 12-1 and fifth-seeded Lakeville South edged fourth-seeded Orono 13-12.

Park led Elk River 6-4 after one period, 9-6 at the half and 14-8 after three periods.

Madi Brinkman scored four goals for the Wolfpack, Kyra Stofer three, Maleah McMorrow two, while Morgan Brinkman and Alaina Wright added one each.