Prior Lake girls' soccer not missing a beat

The Prior Lakes girls' soccer team looks an awful lot like last year's group — talented and deep.

The veteran squad, with 11 seniors on the roster, opened the season with three consecutive shutouts. One was a 3-0 victory over Edina, a team that handed the Lakers one of their two losses in 2013.

"Edina is a strong program and a section opponent, so the win makes a bit of a statement about where we are as a program," Lakers coach David Graham said. "In fact, I think it's our first victory over Edina since I have been here [12th season]. It might be the first one in our program's history."

Senior forward Katie Ward ignited the offensive attack against Edina, netting all three goals. Kaija Ornes, also a senior forward, assisted on the first two tallies.

"Katie had a great night against Edina," Graham said. "She's been playing very well but didn't have any points in our first two games to show for it. She found her scorer's touch with three very nice goals against Edina."

The Lakers, who finished 14-2-3 a year ago, blanked Hill-Murray and Cretin-Derham Hall by 2-0 scores in their first two games.

"Our defense is playing very well," Graham said. "We haven't given up a ton of quality scoring chances in the first three games, but our keeper, Jenna Stock, has stepped up and has made some good saves when called upon."

"We haven't missed a beat in our first three games," Graham said. "We know we have the ability to score goals, and if our defense continues to play like it has, it should be a fun season."

Class 2A's No. 1-ranked volleyball team, Belle Plaine, has already suffered a major setback in the form of an injury.

The Tigers' top hitter, sophomore Mariena Hayden, is sidelined by a back injury. She is expected to miss at least a month.

Hayden, the Minnesota River Conference's most valuable player a year ago, already has over 1,000 kills in her career.

Belle Plaine opened its season with a 25-17, 25-17, 25-16 victory over LeSueur-Henderson in a conference matchup.