Facing the only team they had beaten all year, the seventh-seeded Laker girls were eliminated from the Section 3 lacrosse tournament May 9, falling 6-5 to 10th-seeded Visitation Academy in a play-in game.

It was the first victory of the year for Visitation, while Prior Lake finished what was a rebuilding season with an overall record of 1-11.

The Lakers had beaten Visitation 5-4 during the regular season but found themselves down 4-1 early at sections and couldn’t recover. Prior Lake got within a goal three times but wasn’t ever able to get the equalizer.

“We came out really nervous and tight,” said Lakers head coach Guy Jones. “We really didn’t play well as a team for probably the first half of the first half. We eventually got calmed down and played better, but it was too little, too late.”

The Lakers got one goal apiece from junior Jenna Nelson, senior Lindsey Remick, senior Justine Sharkey, sophomore Alexa Tovsen and sophomore Kristen Tusa.

“As they have all season, the girls played hard right up until the end, but it just wasn’t our day,” Jones said. “We definitely should’ve come out on top in that game.”

In subsequent section tournament action, top-seeded Bloomington Kennedy and second-seeded Shattuck-St. Mary’s advanced to the May 16 title game.

Dealing with the graduation of a large senior class from the year before, the Lakers were mostly in rebuilding mode all year, and it showed most notably in scoring column. Prior Lake averaged just over three goals per game this season.

“A lack of offense and a lack of ball control were our two biggest problems all year,” Jones said. “A lot of that was just a general lack of confidence. A lot of our players were just too hesitant, too slow to shoot. I think that’s a testament to youth and inexperience at the varsity level. More than half our team was on JV last year, so that was definitely a big factor.”

On the bright side, Nelson, Tovsen, Sharkey, sophomore Jessi Barton and junior Tasha Balow were the Lakers’ top scorers this year, and they should all return next year.

Other key returnees next year figure to include junior Abby Schmitz and junior Heather Pierson, “the rock of our defense,” according to Jones.

“It was definitely hard to get everyone on the same page this year, and having to practice inside for the first three weeks of the season because of the weather didn’t help,” Jones said. “Everyone else had the same issue, of course, but I don’t think most other teams had the kind of turnover that we did this year. This season was such that games almost ended up being like practice in a lot of ways.”