Park-Woodbury girls lacrosse: Royal Pack burns Blaze in OT, advances to section semis

• Erin Spinks scores game-winner

Park junior Erin Spinks scored 34 seconds into overtime on an eight-meter penalty shot to give the Royal Pack (9-6) the win over Burnsville in the Section 3 quarterfinals.

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The Park-Woodbury girls lacrosse team earned a trip to the Section 3 semifinals — the deepest the Royal Pack has ever been in the playoffs — after knocking off the section’s No. 2 seed Burnsville 9-8 in overtime on Thursday, May 21 in Burnsville.

Park junior Erin Spinks scored 34 seconds into overtime on an eight-meter penalty shot to give the Royal Pack (9-6) the win after Burnsville was called for a three-second violation.

On the play, the Burnsville defender was called for the penalty, but without a heads-up play by Park junior Kelby Land, the Royal Pack wouldn’t have earned the penalty shot.

Land, noticing the referee had her flag up to signal a penalty, immediately dropped the ball, allowing the official to call the foul. Had Land taken a shot on net, or turned the ball over on a pass attempt, the penalty would have been wiped away.

But, because Land intentionally released the ball, the official made the call giving Spinks a chance to provide the heroics — and she delivered, with a shot into the lower right corner.

In the game, Park senior Kayla Guanella put Park-Woodbury up 8-6 with 4:40 remaining in the game on an eight-meter penalty shot. But, the Blaze (11-3) scored twice in the final 1:19 of the game — including tying the game with 20.4 seconds remaining.

However, the Royal Pack regrouped and Land and Spinks vaulted Park-Woodbury into the semifinals.

Guanella led the Royal Pack with four goals in the game. Spinks had three goals and juniors Carissa Le and Holly Frankenberg each added one goal.

With the win, Park-Woodbury avenged a 9-5 loss to the Blaze back on April 22. The team has now won seven of its last eight games, including earning six wins in a row.

The Royal Pack will now take on No. 3 seed Bloomington Jefferson on Tuesday, May 26 at a neutral site yet to be determined.

Jefferson (10-3), which beat No. 6 Lakeville North 9-5 on Thursday in its quarterfinal game, lost 6-4 to Burnsville back on April 16.

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