June 5th has been a day that the Yepsen twins have held near and dear to their hearts. The Yepsen's mother celebrated her birthday for the past 18 years with her sons, but Thursday night Carter Yepsen gave the date a whole new meaning.

On the run, Carter rocketed a shot past No. 2-ranked and No. 2-seeded Prior Lake’s standout goaltender Aaron Wiederhoeft with 13 seconds left, vaulting No. 1-ranked and top-seeded Rosemount to its first ever state tournament appearance after defeating the Lakers 11-10 at Burnsville High School.

“I saw an odd-man situation on the fast break,” Yepsen said. “I knew I had to beat one guy and things would open up so I just drove to the cage, and let my best shot go and it went in.”

The goal had wide-ranging reverberations. It avenged the Irish’s only loss of the season and finally sent the twin speedsters to state after five years on varsity.

“It’s something we’ve both been dreaming about since we started high school lacrosse,” Carter Yepsen said. “To finally make it and take this program to a whole nother level, it’s pretty sweet.”

The Yepsen brothers drew plenty of attention from the Lakers defense, but after Conner scored two goals in the second quarter to give the Irish a 4-3 lead at intermission.

“It was just a battle — it’s a coin flip — it could have went either way,” Prior Lake coach Chris Fleck said.

Prior Lake trailed in the closing minute, but Matt Denman wasn’t going to let the Lakers go down easily. He scored his second goal of the final quarter with 27 seconds left to tie the score at 10.

“We played them last year in an overtime finish,” Carter Yepsen said. “They got us this year — we knew it was going to be a battle coming in today — it was a good win.”

The Lakers have been chiseled through strong competition in the South Suburban conference, winning three games in overtime this season.

“The south region is really strong at lacrosse and it’s the reason why we’ve had so many strong teams within one section,” Fleck said.  “It is what it is, and I wish the best of luck to Rosemount. I think they’re going to do really well at state.”

Carter Yepsen's clutch goal will certainly be remembered among some of the top moments in the relatively short history of Minnesota high school lacrosse. 

“The guys came up big,” Rosemount head coach Lance Kuehn. “So much work and effort over the years coming down to one shot really made it unbelievable.”

The Irish will now have the chance to defend their top ranking.

“We just gotta focus on playing as a team and keep doing what we’re doing,” Yepsen said.

-- Trevor Squire


Prior Lake's Zach Gaudette tries to work past Rosemount defender Peyton Norder during the Lakers' Section 3 championship victory over the Irish on Thursday. Photo by Loren Nelson

First Report

Senior midfielder Carter Yepsen scored with 13 seconds remaining to lift top-seeded and top-ranked Rosemount past No. 2 seed and second-ranked Prior Lake 11-10 on Thursday in the Section 3 championship at Burnsville High School.

Rosemount qualified for the state tournament for the first time in the program’s history. Quarterfinal play is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at Chaska High School.

Prior Lake’s Matt Denman scored with 27 seconds left to tie the score at 10, seemingly forcing overtime. But the ball went to Yepsen seconds after the ensuing faceoff, and he rocketed straight toward the Lakers’ goal. Yepsen unloaded his shot while running at top speed, and the ball whipped past Prior Lake All-American goaltender Aaron Wiederhoeft.

The goal, Yepsen’s fourth of the game and second in the fourth quarter, sparked a wild celebration on the Rosemount sideline and in the Irish cheering section. Prior Lake handed the Irish (14-1) their only regular season loss, 12-10 on May 2.

Conner Yepsen, Carter’s twin brother, scored twice for the Irish, as did Luke VanOverbeke.

Denman scored three goals to lead Prior Lake (13-3), which got two goals from Cullen Sowder and Ben Ward.

Carter Yepsen’s goal clinched a thrilling back-and-forth matchup in which neither team held more than a two-goal lead and the score was tied eight times.

-- Loren Nelson

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