The Prior Lake girls’ lacrosse team ended Eden Prairie’s historic unbeaten run against Minnesota State High School League competition with a 6-5 win over the three-time defending state champions at Prior Lake High School on Saturday afternoon.
Eden Prairie, ranked No. 1 in the state coaches’ poll, found itself down 1-0 in the third minute of the opening half. Ashtyn King scored unassisted to give the Lakers an early advantage.
The Eagles (10-2, 8-0) responded quickly with a goal from their leading scorer, Brooke Lewis, to tie the game, then Kacie Riggs tallied another for Eden Prairie to give the Eagles a 2-1 lead going into halftime.
Strong defense from both teams made scoring difficult throughout the first half. Emilie Bloyer made four saves for Eden Prairie and Grace Mattox had three for Prior Lake. Mattox continued to make key saves in the second half, finishing the game with seven saves.
The Eagles looked like they would pull away when they scored two goals early in the second half. However, the Lakers had different plans.
Down 4-1, Prior Lake (11-0, 7-0) scored five unanswered goals to go up 6-4 with less than three minutes remaining. Lewis drew one back for Eden Prairie in the final minutes to make it a one-goal game.
Lewis led the Eagles and all scorers with three goals. King and Lauren Wick led the Lakers, with each scoring a pair of goals.
Before losing to the Lakers, Eden Prairie hadn’t lost to a MSHSL opponent since 2014, when the Eagles fell to Blake in the state championship. All of the Eagles’ losses since then had been in the regular season against Loyola Academy, which is annually one of the most decorated programs in the Midwest and is located in the suburbs of Chicago.
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