Conner Yepsen is Rosemount’s highest-scoring player, but David Blanco easily is the team’s most stylish.

Style trumped substance in the top-ranked and top-seeded Irish’s 12-6 victory over No. 5-seeded Lakeville North on Thursday in a boys’ lacrosse state semifinal at Chanhassen High School as Blanco – sporting earrings and a custom haircut – scored three goals to Yepsen’s none. 

To be fair Blanco, a 5-foot-5 senior attackman, has plenty of game to go with all that bling. He’s scored five goals so far in the state tournament, and the hat trick was his third of the season.

“A lot of people don’t know, but we’ve got a lot of skill on attack,” Blanco said about the Irish cruising to the lopsided win despite getting just two goals from the high-scoring Yepsen twins, Carter and Conner. “If they are sliding early, (the Yepsens) bang it down to us.”

Blanco scored back-to-back goals late in the second quarter as the Irish surged to a 6-3 lead at halftime. Blanco, who has 27 goals this season, scored again in the fourth quarter to give Rosemount (16-1) its biggest lead, at 11-4.

The Irish (16-1) advance to Saturday’s title game at 7 p.m. at Chanhassen High against No. 2 seed Eden Prairie, the defending state champion.

“He’s a very underrated kid,” Rosemount coach Lance Kuehn said about Blanco. “He can get in there and grind. Guys look past him because of his size, but if you score goals it doesn’t matter how big or how small you are.”

No. 7-ranked Lakeville North (14-4) raced to a 3-1 lead early in the second quarter on the strength of two Ryan Bissonnet goals and one by leading scorer Roman Rohrbach. The Panthers, who lost 19-5 to Rosemount in a South Suburban Conference matchup on April 29, didn’t score again until Mike Hadacek’s goal 2:30 into the fourth quarter cut the Irish’s lead to 9-4.

Carter Yepsen scored both his goals in the fourth quarter. Conner, the Star Tribune’s All-Metro Player of the Year, was held without a goal for the first time this season.

“The nice thing about being the Rosemount Irish is that we have plenty of scorers,” Kuehn said. “It’s OK for (Conner) not to score. It’s about the team. If the team get the victory, then I don’t care how many he gets and he doesn’t care how many he gets.” 

Blanco said there’s a shared trust between Rosemount’s attackmen and the Yepsens, both of whom are midfielders. If defenders swarm the Yepsens early as they make their forays to the goal, Blanco said the twins are perfectly comfortable dumping the ball to an open attackman.

“They know they can bury, but at the same time they know we can bury,” Blanco said. “They trust us and pass it off.”

As for that haircut, Blanco dished credit for that, too. He said the inspiration for the mullet chop with racing stripes on either side came during Tuesday’s state semifinal win over Mahtomedi. 

“No. 1 on Mahtomedi,” Blanco said about the Zephyrs’ Cole Sellman, who also sports the distinctive hairdo popularized by Chicago Blackhawks star Patrick Kane. “I’m not sure his name, but I guess I carried on his haircut. I don’t know if he will be mad about that or not, but hey, I’ll give him his props.”

First Report

Top-ranked and top-seeded Rosemount rallied from an early deficit by scoring eight unanswered goals on its way to a dominating 12-6 triumph over No. 5 seed Lakeville North on Thursday in a boys’ lacrosse state semifinal at Chanhassen High School.

The Irish (16-1) advance to Saturday’s title game at 7 p.m. at Chanhassen High against No. 2 seed Eden Prairie, the defending state champion.

Mason Hille, Trent Woodcock and David Blanco each scored twice during the Irish’s game-clinching spurt that spanned most of the second quarter, all of the third and the early stages of the fourth.

Irish leading scorers Carter and Conner Yepsen, members of the Star Tribune’s All-Metro team, were uncharacteristically quiet. Carter finally got on the scoresheet in the fourth quarter with two goals and Conner, the All-Metro Player of the Year, was held without a goal for the first time this season.

No. 7-ranked Lakeville North (14-4) pulled ahead 3-1 early in the second quarter on a goal by leading scorer Roman Rohrbach. The Panthers didn’t find the back of the net again until Mike Hadacek scored 2:30 into the fourth quarter to cut Rosemount’s lead to 9-4. 

Ryan Bissonett led Lakeville North with three goals. Blanco’s three goals paced the Irish.

Rosemount defeated South Suburban Conference rival Lakeville North 19-5 on April 29.

-- Loren Nelson