Warroad and Cloquet-Esko-Carlton were the winners in the opening quarterfinal games of the 1A state girls' hockey tournament Wednesday afternoon at the Xcel Energy Center.
Breck romped and Rochester Lourdes won an overtime thriller in the evening quarterfinals.
The opening game offered up a bit of a surprise when unseeded Willmar pulled within 3-2 of No. 2 Warroad early in the second period. But Warroad came back with three goals in a seven-minute span to defeat the Cardinals 7-4 at the Xcel Energy center.
No. 3-seed Cloquet-Esko-Carlton scored two goals in the first period and then held on for a 2-0 victory over Hutchinson. Goalie Araya Kiminski stopped all 18 shots she faced for the winners.
Top-seeded Breck got hat tricks from Olivia Mobley and Ally Qualley to rout Luverne 8-1, scoring all eight of its goals in the first period.
In the last quarterfinal, Emma Schmitz scored her second goal 53 seconds into overtime to lift Rochester Lourdes over South St. Paul 2-1.
The semifinal are Friday.
