Osseo/Park Center boys lacrosse reached a key milestone last week, earning its first win of the season on May 3 in a 9-6 thriller at home against Duluth Marshall.
OPC began this season facing a winless streak dating back to last year and a difficult conference to navigate, though recent results had seen the team start to find a scoring rhythm.
Having gone winless last season, OPC head coach Matt Edlund was clear on how important and useful the win over Marshall could be to help keep the team motivated moving forward.
“I’m really proud of what these kids have done. They deserved this. They worked hard, they worked together, and they came together as a team to get this done,” Edlund said. “It’s a big confidence boost for this team, this was a confidence win. [Now] we’ve got to keep that confidence.”
OPC’s big win did not come easily. Marshall held most of the possession in the first quarter, though OPC did find the first goal. A clever spin gave Jacob Hansen space to take a shot off a quick transition done the field. The shot proved true to make it 1-0, but Marshall found two goals later in the quarter to lead 2-1 at the first break.
The hosts started the second quarter strong, with Jonas King scoring an early tying goal to make it 2-2. The two teams would exchange goals again, this time with OPC’s Gavin Stahl slotting home a long-range shot to make it 3-3. Both teams had chances to retake the lead but as timeouts came out in force and momentum slowed, both settled to look for a knockout punch in the second half.
Marshall did find the first serious jab early in the third quarter, retaking the lead once again. OPC’s Dominick Grubbs responded with a goal to compliment his strong day in the midfield and attack before Omar Knighten added a goal after a hard-fought day in the alley for OPC. The hosts led 5-4.
Marshall now played catch up and did make it 5-5 briefly, but OPC, now in command, made sure to lead at the break with a second goal from Grubbs.
With a chance at win now clear at the start of the fourth quarter, OPC hit the gas pedal. Adam Verkuilen scored four minutes into the quarter to start the run, before Knighten and Stahl added their second goals of the game to make it 9-5. As the goals flooded in for OPC, the defensive composure also improved. Goalie Jackson Sanders, who had played well through the night, was an active presence physically and vocally through the final quarter. Defenders Roy Joseph Scott and Dylan Olson also grew into their roles starting the transition for the attack. Marshall found one goal late in the game but there was no comeback in store for the Hilltoppers as the night ended 9-6 to OPC.
Other results
OPC opened last week with two conference games, beginning with a 15-6 conference loss to Armstrong on April 29, then losing 15-4 to Spring Lake Park/Coon Rapids on May 1. While the two defeats did reflect the work OPC had to do defensively,the team also showed their ability to make a game of each matchup. Knighten had a hat trick of goals against Armstrong, while Grubbs earned one goal and one assist in that game and Stahl scored two.
OPC did lose their final game of the week, 12-6 to Breck on May 4, but the trend of improved performances in the attack continued.
OPC will play two games the following week, traveling to Totino-Grace and Big/Lake Princeton on May 6 (after this edition went to press) and Thursday, May 9, respectively.
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