For Prior Lake, it was time to take the next step.

The Lakers, making their second consecutive state tournament appearance, had little trouble defeating Blaine, cruising to an 8-2 halftime lead en route to a 16-6 victory.

For the Lakers, the result was just what they had envisioned after losing in the first round one year ago.

“Getting this victory was huge,” senior defender Alexa Bloedow said. “We made it through the first round, which was our goal.”

The No. 2-seeded Lakers (16-1) spotted Blaine a 1-0 lead, then scored the next six goals. The lead grew to 12-2 in the second half before Prior Lake relaxed.

“We didn’t play as well as we could have right away, but that was probably because of the rain delay and getting used to things out here,” said Bloedow, a first team All-Metro selection. “But by the end of the game, we were playing our game.”

Blaine’s Abby Jones scored all six goals for the Bengals (10-7).