Page 6 Lake Conference Hockey • Thursday, December 11, 2025 sailor. mnsun. com
EDINA HORNETS GIRLS HOCKEY
Lake Conference Hockey
Looking for that annual trip to St. Paul
JOHN SHERMAN john. sherman @ apgecm. com
Every Edina girls hockey team that Sami Cowger has coached earned a spot in the State Class AA Tournament.
That remarkable streak has included five state championships and the share of Lake Conference titles most years. The most epic hockey rivalry in the Lake is Edina girls vs. Minnetonka girls with hard-fought games in every meeting.
Edina opened Lake play in late November with a 10-0 win over Hopkins / St. Louis Park at historic Minnetonka Ice Arena.“ It was great to see 10 pucks in the back of the net,” coach Cowger said.“ I love our depth. We can rely on anyone to score at any time.”
Looking back on last season, the Hornets didn’ t win the Lake Conference title. Minnetonka took the honors with a 9-0-0 record and Edina finished 7-2-0. The playoffs were a different story. Edina won the gold medals in Section 6AA and in the state tournament the Hornets took the championship game to double overtime before falling to Hill-Murray 5-4. The 2024-25 season ended with Edina sporting an overall record of 25-4-1 and since that team included only six seniors the Hornets are an experienced crew this season.
( SUN PHOTO BY JOHN SHERMAN)
Senior captains for the Edina High girls hockey team are, from left to right: Cate McCoy, Taylor Gardner, Brenna Prellwitz and Lorelai Nelson.
Two senior forwards give Edina an edge most nights. Lorelai Nelson, now in her fifth season on varsity, led the Hornets with 41 points on 18 goals and 23 assists last season. Cate McCoy, in her fourth varsity season, led in goals last season with 21 and added 18 assists for 39 points.
Whitney Horton graduated last spring and was the third leading scorer. The Hornets miss her, but have plenty of firepower behind Nelson and McCoy with their fourth, fifth and sixth scorers returning from last season. They are Audrey Davis( 13-23-36), Libby Moe( 7-25-32) and
Charlotte Theirl( 10-9- 19).
Leading the defense for this season’ s team are senior captains Brenna Prellwitz and Taylor Gardner.
The Hornet girls won three of their first four games in 2025-26, but had trouble on offense in a 2-1 loss to Holy Family Catholic.
“ We have had kind of a slow start,” McCoy said.“ But we will be hitting our peak soon.”
“ It is super fun being able to play hockey with my friends every day,” Nelson said.“ There is a good atmosphere.”
Gardner talked about Edina’ s tradition of going to state every year:“ It is always an honor when we get there. Our approach to the season is game-bygame. When you get a chance to play at state, it’ s surreal.”
“ State is a great experience,” Prellwitz said.“ You always have great competition.”
Coach Cowger likes the experience and leadership that her four captains bring to the rink every day. They are a balanced group with Nelson and McCoy up front and Prellwitz and Gardner leading the blue-liners.
Soren Peacock backed up last year’ s co-starting goalies, Reese McConnell and Nora Hannan, in the
MEET THE
Hornets
1 – Junior goalie Finley Engfer 6 – Junior defenseman Kaylan Kapsen 7 – Junior forward Libby Moe 8 – Senior forward Cate McCoy 9 – Senior forward Kathryn Ewers 10 – Junior forward Emerson Fritz 11 – Sophomore forward Hazel Schenkelberg 12 – Senior forward Lorelai Nelson 13 – Senior forward Gina Russo 14 – Junior forward Audrey Davis 15 – Sophomore forward KK McGarvey 16 – Sophomore forward Jia Morgan 17 – Senior defenseman Brenna Prellwitz 18 – Senior forward Charlotte Theirl 19 – Senior defenseman Taylor Garner 20 – Sophomore forward Mae Fitzgerald 21 – Ninth-grade defenseman Josie Nelson 22 – Junior defenseman Lilly Horton 30 – Senior goalie Lucy Bertram 35 – Junior goalie Soren Peacock
playoffs last season. With McConnell and Hannan gone, coach Cowger is looking at three goalies – Senior Lucy Bertram and juniors Peacock and Finley Engfer.
As the most successful girls hockey coach in state history, Cowger is thankful to coach the Edina girls team. She played in the Edina program for former head coach Laura Slominski and then went on to four seasons with the Harvard University women’ s team. Cowger is the youngest coach ever inducted into the Edina Boosters Athletic Hall of
Fame.
Asked if coaching has become any easier near the end of her first decade at the Edina helm,“ Cowger said,“ Every year brings different challenges. The difference between the year I started and now is that I have my routine down.”
Consistency in the program is important and Cowger has great working relationships with varsity assistant coaches Megan Arceneaux and Casey Purpur. Drew Stafford is also on the coaching staff along with veteran goalie coach Scott Ryerse.