Girls lacrosse: Stillwater remains unbeaten in SEC

COTTAGE GROVE — After sharing the Suburban East Conference title a year ago, Stillwater opened up a 6-2 halftime lead and cruised to an 11-5 girls lacrosse victory over the Wolfpack on Wednesday, May 1 at Park High School.

It was the first loss of the season for Park (3-1 SEC, 4-1), which defeated the Ponies 6-5 a year ago to provide the lone conference setback on the way to Stillwater’s 13th league championship in the past 14 seasons.

Avery Irlbeck and Mady Richert each delivered three goals to boost the Ponies in this one. Richert also provided two assists while Jillian Maddux, Rayna Malmberg, Myah Krueger, Lydia Glass and Ava Mosley added a goal apiece.

Scoring against Park has not been easy for teams this season. Stillwater’s 11 goals exceeded the nine goals combined the Wolfpack allowed in their first four games.

Rio Atkinson finished with seven saves for the Ponies, who also outscored Park 5-3 in the second half.

Stillwater (5-0, 5-1), which is No. 4 in the state rankings, has won five in a row since falling to third-ranked Prior Lake in the season opener. Cretin-Derham Hall (4-1, 5-1), East Ridge (3-1, 3-2) and Woodbury (2-1, 2-3) join the Wolfpack with just one loss in conference play.

Stillwater 3 3 2 3 — 11

Park 1 1 1 2 — 5

Goals — St, Avery Irlbeck 3, Mady Richert 3, Jillian Maddux, Rayna Malmberg, Myah Krueger, Lydia Glass, Ava Mosley; Par, Madi Brinkman 4 and Maleah McMorrow.

Assists — St, Richert 2, Maycie Neubauer and Malmberg; Par, 0.

Saves — St, Rio Atkinson 7; Par, Lauryn Ehrenstrom 7.

Stillwater 10, Cretin-Derham Hall 7

At St. Paul, Maycie Neubauer lead a balanced attack for the Ponies with three goals in a 10-7 conference victory over the 10th-ranked Raiders on Friday, April 26 at Cretin-Derham Hall High School.

Mady Richert contributed three assists for Stillwater, which carried a 5-4 lead into halftime before outscoring the Raiders 3-1 in the third quarter to provide some breathing room.

Jordan Rosga scored four times to lead the Raiders, who suffered their first loss of the season.

Stillwater 1 4 3 2 — 10

Cretin-Derham Hall 3 1 1 2 — 7

Goals — St, Maycie Neubauer 3, Gretchen Wenner, Ava Mosley, Lydia Glass, Myah Krueger, Rayna Malmberg, Avery Irlbeck and Mady Richert; C-DH, Jordan Rosga 4 and Sofia Watts 3.

Assists — St, Richert 3, Neubauer and Malmberg; C-DH, Jane Stangler and Rosga.

Saves — St, Rio Atkinson 6; C-DH, Caroline LeClair 10.

Contact Stuart Groskreutz at stuart.groskreutz@apgecm.com