With a berth in the state championship game hanging in the balance, St. Louis Park’s players needed only to look at their shoes or sticks or gloves or various other pieces of gear to find inspiration.

There, etched on their equipment was Fortis, the Latin word for courage and bravery.

“We used that as our theme,” St. Louis Park junior Max Bergeron said after he scored two goals in the Orioles’ 10-5 victory over previously unbeaten St. Paul on Friday, June 18, in a Minnesota Boys Scholastic Lacrosse Association state tournament semifinal at Orono High School. “We all wrote it down somewhere on our equipment.

“When we needed something to pick us back up we just looked at it.”

Turns out the Orioles’ code word wasn’t the only driving force behind their win over the Celts.

Sean Berens, St. Louis Park’s all-state long-stick midfielder, was switched to defense and assigned the task of locking down St. Paul scoring star Kieran Gallagher. When the teams met during the regular season, it was Gallagher, an all-state attackman, who scored six goals in the Celts’ 10-9 overtime victory over St. Louis Park on May 19.

“The plan was to just be on him the whole time,” Berens said. “If he had the ball, get it back.”

Realistic or not, it was Berens’ intention to hold Gallagher to a single goal. Berens knew if he could do that, the reward would be great.

“(Teammate Finn Mallon) said, ‘If you hold him to one I’ll take you to get you some ice cream,’ ” Berens said. “So that was my goal – one goal.”

After fashioning one of the best defensive performances of the season -- given the cicumstances and the opponent -- Berens now needs only to choose his flavor. Gallagher managed just one goal and, beyond that, precious few scoring opportunities.

“I thought at the half he was going to come out in the second half and really start moving,” St. Louis Park coach Kevin Reed said. “And then he scored right away. I thought, 'We’ve got problems, this kid is going to do this the rest of the game now. ' ”

Instead, Berens and the rest of the Orioles' defense went right back to lock-down mode.

As for St. Paul (12-1), it was one of those everything-goes-wrong sort of games. Summing up the game for the Celts was a single play in which defenseman A.J. Frisell attempted to pass the ball to goaltender Keenan Lilyquist, only to watch in horror as the ball sailed into the St. Paul net.

That miscue put St. Louis Park (16-3) ahead 9-3 late in the third quarter.

Turns out, according to Celts’ coach Ben Mooney, Lilyquist had been told by an official to fix the netting in his goal and thus was caught off guard by Frisell’s pass.

“It was a big moment for these guys, and they haven’t had many of them this year,” Mooney said about his team's performance.

The result was a repeat of last season’s semifinal matchup between the teams, when St. Louis Park advanced to the championship game, losing to Orono. The Orioles won the MBSLA state title in 2008.

“It feels great,” Bergeron said about reaching the title game. “Three years in a row, baby. Three years in a row.”

1. Sean Berens, St. Louis Park
Just a sophomore, Berens proved he was worthy of his recent all-state selection by holding St. Paul scoring whiz Kieran Gallagher to just one goal. Gallagher scored 40 goals in nine regular season games, including six in the regular season meeting between the teams.

2. Art Elmer, St. Louis Park
The junior midfielder registered his second hat  trick in as many state tournament games and has 37 goals in 19 games this season to rank second on the Orioles.

3. Will Harkema, St. Louis Park
The freshman goaltender needed to be good to give the Orioles a chance, and he proved to be better than that. Harkema made a handful of clutch saves at crucial times and was rock solid from start to finish.
 

Regular Season