“Eighth grade we went to state as well. We came down from a three or four-goal deficit in the beginning of the first half, so we’ve been in this situation before,” Apple Valley senior Molly Moynihan said.

The Eagles (15-1) have eight seniors, and they were all eighth graders the last time the Eagles made the state tournament. The experience from playing in close games helped them beat Prior Lake 13-12 to clinch a trip to the tourney.

“We’re always ready to come back because we’ve been battle-tested so many times,” Moynihan said.

Moynihan scored a game-high six goals in the win, her biggest being a goal with three seconds left in the first half to cut the Apple Valley deficit to one going into halftime. The late tally gave the Eagles a lot of momentum, and they rode that to five unanswered goals to start the second half, all of which were scored by Moynihan and Reagan Roelofs, who was named the Player of the Year by the state coaches’ association.

“I told them, ‘Big time players, in big time games have to play big,’ and they played big today,” Apple Valley coach Alexandra Ross said of Roelofs and Moynihan. The duo combined to score 11 of the team’s 13 goals.

The Lakers’ Payton Bloedow scored her fifth goal of the game with just over five minutes left in the fourth quarter, which was the first score of the second half for Prior Lake, fueling a Lakers surge where they ended up scoring four goals in less than three minutes to tie the game at 12.

Things were unraveling for the Eagles, but with 30 second left, Emma Vogelgesang had a chance to secure the game with a goal form the eight-meter line.

“I knew she had it, she’s a great eight-meter shooter; that’s the person I want on the line to take that last shot and she came through big time because she’s a tough player mentally,” Moynihan said of Vogelgesang, who buried the shot to send the Eagles to state.

“These girls, these senior girls, have been working so hard. They wanted it. They have felt defeat by Prior Lake for the last three seasons for six games in a row. They were going to do whatever it took,” Ross said.

The Eagles now get to carry the momentum from this dramatic win into next week’s state tournament, where Ross is confident in her team’s abilities.

“We’ve been battle-tested, we’re ready for next week and anyone who comes at us,” Ross said.