With two goals to his name, Tad Utter was looking for another as crossed midfield early in the second quarter. 

Weaving between Hopkins’ defenders while cradling the ball, the Minnetonka captain took a shot to his midsection that sent him hurtling toward the ground. Before the Skippers’ leading goal scorer hit the turf, he rifled a shot from 10 yards out.

The ball whistled through the Royals’ defense and past freshman goalie Ben Sersock, giving Utter a first-half hat trick. The senior midfielder added one more goal in the second half to finish with four and lead third-seeded Minnetonka to a 14-10 victory over sixth-seeded Hopkins in a Section 2 quarterfinal Thursday at Minnetonka High School.

“Our big consistent has been Tad Utter,” Skippers coach Aaron Olivier said. “He is the guy to stop as he had four today, but every game we have had someone step up.”

All of Utter’s goals against the Royals (4-10) were unassisted, but relying on the skills of Minnetonka’s most lethal goal scorer won’t get the Skippers (8-6) far in the playoffs. Olivier said his team isn’t the most athletic or overpowering, and it needs to move the ball and get open shots to compete with other teams.

Junior attackman Jack Arriola did just that against Hopkins, Olivier said.

Not only did Arriola record a hat trick, but he tallied two assists to lead Minnetonka with five points.

Utter said a week of practicing a 1-4-1 offense was key to Arriola and the Skippers solving the Royals’ zone defense.

“We knew where our guys were going to be,” Utter said. “We knew where to take shots from and (Arriola) kept his head up all night. He is a great feeder.”

Minnetonka needed all the offense it could muster to hold off Hopkins. Every time it looked as if the Royals were ready to roll over, they found a way to creep back into the game.

After an Arriola goal early in the third gave Minnetonka a 7-3 lead, the Royals scored four of the next five goals. They capped the run with a rocket shot from senior attackman Andrew Wallace-Jackson that made the score 8-7.

But as he and his team had all night, Arriola dashed the hopes of Hopkins with a goal. This time it was his third of the game and gave the Skippers a two-goal cushion.

“Coach told us to be confident and resilient,” Arriola said. “We are a really resilient team, and that is how we were able to get the win.”

The goals and assists tend to be the glamour stats, but Minnetonka held the advantage in a less noticeable but equally important category: faceoffs won. Behind the play of Blake Barta, who tallied double-digit faceoff wins, the Skippers maintained possession for the majority of the night.

Olivier said Barta's toughness and short-term memory makes the junior midfielder a tough matchup for anyone in the faceoff circle.

“He’s been consistent all year for us,” Olivier said. “He kept us in it, and being able to hold possession in lacrosse is really the biggest thing.”  

Utter, Ariola, Barta and Minnetonka move on to face Lake Conference rival and second-seeded Edina in the section semifinals at Edina High School on June 1 at 7 p.m.

Olivier said the Skippers must limit turnovers, penalties and mental errors to defeat the Hornets, who are ranked No. 13 in the coaches poll.

Those issues plagued Minnetonka in the regular season and showed up against Hopkins, Olivier said.  

“Playing Edina, the mistakes we made tonight we are not going to be able to make on Monday,” he said. “So we have to clean that up.”

Tad Utter scored four goals to lead third-seeded Minnetonka over sixth-seeded Hopkins 14-10 in a Section 2 quarterfinal game Thursday at Minnetonka High School.

The Skippers senior captain entered the playoff matchup with a team-high 16 goals, and the Royals (4-10) battled the entire game trying to contain the midfielder.

The strategy nearly worked as Hopkins trailed 6-3 at halftime and threatened Minnetonka in the second half.

The teams exchanged goals early in the third quarter, and the Royals closed the gap to 8-7 when Andrew Wallace-Jackson scored with less than two minutes remaining.

But that was the closest Hopkins would get. The Skippers (8-6) seemed to answer every Royals' rally with a goal and maintained their lead thanks to four second-half points from Jack Arriola, who helped Minnetonka escaped with its third victory over Hopkins this season. 

Senior captain Ryan Colesworthy anchored the Skippers in net, making with 23 saves in the winning effort.  

Wallace-Jackson finished with four goals and Kamal Baker had three for the Royals.

Minnetonka advances to the section semifinals, where it faces Lake Conference rival and second-seeded Edina at Edina High School at 7 p.m. on June 1.

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