The Forest Lake girls lacrosse team comes off a 2023 season described as a “learning year,” according to head coach Jenna Brown. After finishing the year with a record of 4-11 and earning a seventh-place finish in the Suburban East Conference, the Rangers saw their season come to a close in the Section 7 quarterfinals, courtesy of Chisago Lakes. In this year’s campaign, the squad looks to flip the script entirely and get back to its winning ways.
The group will be led by a number of key returnees this season, including a lone senior captain in defender Lily Desrosier, captain goalie Ava Hagland, and junior captains midfielder Rylen Kissell and attacker Maren Wallinga. A third junior in Emma Larsen, an attacker, will also look to make an impact for the Rangers this season. Forest Lake also possesses multiple game changers in the underclassmen level: sophomore defender Ellie Ness, and sophomore midfielders Abby Sklaventisis and Lydia Balfany.
Brown says she’s also excited about her two freshmen in Hope Tuma and Hannah Henry, who both play the middle position. A senior foreign exchange student from Denmark, Maren Kaas, who’s playing lacrosse for the very first time, can be a crucial piece to the Rangers’ success. “She might end up being a huge asset to our team,” Brown said.
Regarding the expectations that Brown has for her girls this season, “We got together and talked about some basics goals we want to achieve this season, with one of them being that we want the same respect as the top-five team in the state. So we are going to treat ourselves like we’re a top-five team in the state. We are going to have that confidence and we’re going to believe in each other,” Brown said.
“We have to trust one another and just focus on building this new team that we have together. Forest Lake has been known to be pretty good at lacrosse, so we’re rebuilding and rebuilding, and it feels like we are now at the point where we’ve built a little bit – we have a good base of sophomores and juniors right now, to help us hopefully get back up to the top.”
Brown says that the team will work day in and day out on its communication and accountability aspects – as well as being more reflective as the season goes on.
“The more we are reflective, the more effective we can all be together. Reflecting on each and every single aspect and position, and how we can improve upon that is something we’ve talked about a ton,” Brown said. “I’m just really excited for this season. It feels very exciting. I think the girls feel that way too. The energy that we had in the last week or so – it doesn’t even compare to last season.”
In terms of how the group will look to get back on top and stay up on top, Brown details how it’s a lot easier said than done.
“It’s so hard to remain on your game and stay consistent when you play a variety of skilled teams. I think the biggest thing is to practice hard, and then we will play hard. We got to go after every ground ball like we are playing against Stillwater in our practices. This is a really competitive group of individuals and I think that we need to bring that competitive attitude every day to practice. I think that will help us stay the most consistent throughout the season,” Brown said.
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