Minnesota’s top high school boys lacrosse teams test each other in an early-season opportunity

Twenty of Minnesota’s top boys lacrosse programs descended upon White Bear Lake on Saturday for the second annual East vs. West Showdown.

Only three days into the spring season, the curtain-raising contests carried the feel of postseason clashes. Six preseason top-10 teams competed on the Bears’ turf field, providing early glimpses of established stars and new contributors.

The 20 squads have their entire seasons in front of them, but the matchups held significant implications for the state rankings of the Minnesota State High School Boys Lacrosse Coaches Association.

Here’s how the state’s preeminent teams fared Saturday in matchups pitting teams from the east metro against teams from the west side:

The Red Knights lost significant talent to graduation following the 2024 season, including four of their five leading scorers. Still, the defending state champions scored nine first-half goals in their victory over the Bears.

“The standard is still the standard,” Benilde-St. Margaret’s coach Giuseppe Palermo said. “The job they did is showing now with this new group.”

Midfielder Holton Vanderlinde scored five goals Saturday. Last season, Vanderlinde had 19 goals and 12 assists, finding his footing amid the program’s third state title run in the past four years.

“He’s a guy that has been working his tail off all offseason,” Palermo said. “Not only his performance on the field, but his leadership on and off the field is a great example of what kind of kid [he] is.”

Two top-five squads faced off in a season’s opening weekend, and a clash of bona fide state title threats lived up to its billing. The Ponies, who knocked off the Skippers twice in 2024, once again nabbed bragging rights in a physical game.

Stillwater coach Peter Flock didn’t quite know what to expect because his team played just one preseason scrimmage.

Ponies netminder Casey Mork made matters difficult for the Skippers attackmen, and Stillwater packed a counterpunch for every opposing shift.

“We never really pulled away,” Flock said. “Lots of adversity, but these guys know how to get each other going, or calm themselves down, too.”

“To see how they’ve progressed, how hungry they’ve gotten year after year, and just the maturity that they have where ‘It’s about us, it’s not about I’s,’ is truly amazing,” Lee said. “I feel lucky and humbled just to be a part of it.”

The Hornets’ veteran trio of Cooper Anderson, Drew Stocco and Eli Busse proved far too much for the Royals to handle defensively. Anderson, a senior attackman committed to Providence, demonstrated his dual-threat ability as a scorer and facilitator throughout the game.

The goals poured in from all angles — through X, off dodges and via slick feeds — as Edina improved to 2-0.

“Everyone on our team are just such good dodgers,” Stocco said. “They had to slide to us, and they slid too much. All the cuts were open, and everything seemed to be working.”

Left out of the preseason top-10 rankings, the Eagles entered their season opener looking to show coaches they remain a force to be reckoned with. A one-goal victory over the Raptors did just that.

After falling into a 2-0 deficit, the Eagles capped the first half on a 6-1 run and later held an 8-4 advantage heading into the final 12 minutes. The six-deep East Ridge attack awoke in the fourth quarter, rattling off four consecutive conversions to tie the score 8-8.

Eden Prairie midfielder Carson Stidger secured the decisive goal.

“I look at last year. We had so many one-goal games,” Eden Prairie coach Ryan Ward said. “It wasn’t pretty, that’s for sure. We have a lot to clean up. But having that experience carried through today.”