Photo gallery: Boys' Lacrosse Semifinals
Trainers advised Eagan junior midfielder Cole Powell to ice an upper-body injury after Thursday’s state tournament semifinal, which he iced with an overtime goal.
Powell’s goal less than one minute into overtime gave Eagan a 12-11 victory over Mahtomedi in an emotional game. Each team enjoyed a pair of three-goal surges. No. 1 seed Eagan (17-1) had a goal late in regulation waved off and No. 4 seed Mahtomedi (16-2) saw a three-goal lead in the fourth quarter disappear.
“That intensity is something I haven’t felt ever, really,” Powell said. “This game was the closest we had all season and probably one of the toughest we had all season.”
Eagan battled back from an 11-8 deficit early in the fourth quarter and tied the game 11-11 on a Brandon Wuertz goal with 4:13 to play. Junior Joe Diffley thought he put the Wildcats ahead with about 16 seconds to play but a crease violation nullified the goal.
On to overtime, where Mahtomedi won the faceoff but quickly turned over the ball. With Wuertz drawing double-teams all night, Powell anticipated being free around the net. Unexpected, however, was playing the hero role.
“I thought he was going to shoot because he looked open to me,” Powell said. “But he dished it and I just had to turn quick and shoot.”