The pregame ritual for the Champlin Park girls’ lacrosse team isn’t vastly different from most athletic teams, but the Rebels may be the best at implementing their pregame antics when the real thing begins. 

 

“We do a lot of pregame jams,” junior midfielder Sam Nolan explained after her Rebels cruised past Northwest Suburban Conference and Section 7 rival Coon Rapids 14-8 on Friday night at Champlin Park. 

 

“(We) turn the music on and just dance around.”

 

Nolan did some serious dancing of her own in the win, side-stepping and sashaying past Cardinals defenders en route to a seven-goal performance. Senior forward Hanna Crymble showed off some of her moves as well, waltzing her way to five goals for the Rebels (1-0). 

 

Nolan’s first two goals came just 3 minutes, 2 seconds into the game, giving Champlin Park the spark it needed to dominate Coon Rapids in the first half. 

 

“(The first two goals) kind of gave the whole team a kickstart,” Nolan said, deflecting the notion that it’s her exclusive role to provide the team with offense. 

 

“Not so much my role, but just something I would like to do if I was put in that position,” Nolan said. 

 

Rebels’ coach Kelsey McCann said that Nolan and Crymble will be the primary sources of offense for Champlin Park this season, whether the high-scoring duo admits it or not. 

 

“I think everyone understands their role, and realizes that Hanna and Sam are going to get half the goals this season,” McCann said. “That’s going to open up an ample amount of opportunities for (other players) to pop (goals) in, because defenses are so focused on (numbers) 7 and 39."

 

Nolan scored 57 goals last season, and Crymble had 53 as the Rebels earned their first win at the state tournament in program history last spring. 

 

McCann says that the deep postseason run may have made Champlin Park a bigger target for opposing teams, but the success has been a valuable tool when it comes to game preparation. 

 

“In a sense it’s easier,” McCann said. “We pretty much started the first practice of the year where we (were) last year. The tempo is much faster in practice this year.”

 

While McCann admits there are some areas of their game the Rebels need to polish (ground balls and easy passes), she’ll take a definitive win over a rival any way she can. 

 

“The girls came ready to play, and that’s all that matters tonight.”

Junior midfielder Sam Nolan scored a game-high seven goals, and senior attacker Hanna Crymble netted five to lead Champlin Park to a 14-8 home win over Northwest Suburban Conference and Section 7 rival Coon Rapids on Friday night.

 

Senior attacker Demey Everett and junior midfielder Tara Dalman each scored one goal for the Rebels (1-0) in their season opener.

 

The Cardinals (0-1) allowed Nolan to score twice in the first three minutes of the game, and never tied or led Champlin Park. 

 

Senior attacker Kayla Ross led Coon Rapids with four goals, junior attacker Helen Nelson scored twice, and senior attacking wing Allie Miskowiec and junior attacker Molly Bolin each scored once for the Cardinals.