Emily Frankenfeld had heard it before. She just figured it would be better to do what she was told and not have to face a coach's questions later.

The Edina senior scored a once-in-a-lifetime goal, a rightfooted rocket from 30 yards out that caught the upper corner of the goal with less than 13 minutes remaining, giving the Hornets a 2-1 victory over No. 1-ranked Woodbury.

Edina (18-1-2) will play Lakeville South, a 1-0 victor over Armstrong, in Thursday's championship game.

"I told Emily in the locker room at halftime that I just wanted one good shot from her," Edina coach Simon Whitehead said. "Just one good shot. And look what happened when she did."

While the result made Whitehead seem prescient, Frankenfeld admitted that wasn't quite the case.

"He says that to me all the time," the midfielder said. "I'd rather pass than shoot, but I figured I'd better shoot because I didn't want to hear about it later."

Most soccer observers believed that Woodbury (19-2-1), the defending Class 2A champion, was a strong favorite to win its fourth title in five years.

But the No. 4-seeded Hornets showed early that they would not be intimidated. They stayed with the Royals from the outset, playing excellent position defense and defusing Woodbury's potent attack.

"That was our usual great play from our midfielders and our defenders," Whitehead said.

Edina got on the board first when Julie Sierks converted a rebound off a long shot by Corinne Buie in the 18th minute.

Woodbury tied the score 1-1 just before halftime when Catherine Sessions made a run down the right side and placed a perfect crossing pass on the foot of a rushing Alyssa DuVal, who scored easily.

Neither team had a clear advantage in the second half and the game appeared headed to overtime before Frankenfeld hit the shot heard 'round the southwest metro.

"We'll let them a have all of the accolades," Whitehead said. "We knew we could play with them. We were the better team."

Lakeville South 1, Armstrong 0: The chance they always believed they would get has finally become reality for the Cougars (19-2).

No. 3 seed Lakeville South protected a one-goal lead for much of the game and held on through some tense moments in the later stages against the seventh-seeded Falcons.

Many of the Cougars players were members of the 2004 Lakeville team that advanced to the Class 2A championship game. They fully expected that playing for state championships would be a common occurrence.

And with good reason. They won their section in each of the past two years, making the state semifinals each time before losing.

This year, however, the Cougars have found that sense of urgency they previously were missing.

"I talked to the team about that," coach Dan Flood said. "We would win a section championship and the girls would be almost ho-hum about it. They thought it would be a given and it wasn't. Are you kidding? This is a great opportunity and we talked about them appreciating it."

After a shaky start, Lakeville South scored the game's only goal at 20:40 of the first half. Metro Player of the Year Krista Lundgren ran upon a bouncing ball and drove it home.

Armstrong (13-7-1) forced the issue in the latter stages of the game, finding two excellent opportunities to tie the game in the final five minutes, but could not manage the equalizer.

"My heart was pumping pretty fast there at the end," Lundgren said. "But it feels good to get back the finals. We're going to be ready."

JIM PAULSEN

Class 1A

Blake 1, Mahtomedi 0: Claire Wilson and Addie Adams have spent their freshman seasons looking up to her teammates. The roles were reversed in the semifinals.

Wilson scored on the Bears' only shot on goal in the fifth minute and Adams made it stand up, as second-seeded Blake (20-1) ended Mahtomedi's run of three consecutive state championships.

The No. 3-seeded Zephyrs (19-3-1) have five titles since 1997.

"If you are going to reach the state finals, you have to have people step up when they have a chance," Blake coach Paul Menge said. "Sometimes it's going to be your seniors [the Bears have 10 on the roster] and at other times it's going to be somebody else."

That just happened to be Wilson, who usually plays defense. She started the game at midfield and scored on a blast over the head of Mahtomedi goalkeeper Ronnie Fisher and just under the crossbar.

"I was surprised how hard I hit that," said Wilson, whose only other goal this year came in an 11-0 victory over St. Agnes in the fifth game of the season. "It's different playing midfield. I have more of a defensive mind."

Adams made three saves, her biggest coming on a breakaway by Melissa Sauer in the 30th minute. The shutout was her 15th of the year.

"This was clearly a game where our defense won it for us," Menge said.

Totino-Grace 3, Benilde-St. Margaret's 0: The fourth-seeded Eagles are healthy, and what a difference it makes.

Totino-Grace (17-4-1) won its 10th consecutive game, eliminating the top-seeded Red Knights (18-4). Benilde-St. Margaret's beat a Totino-Grace squad missing three starters 3-2 in an early regular-season meeting.

Senior midfielder Makinzie Krebsbach opened the scoring with an assist from junior forward Abby Serreyn in the 39th minute.

"That was a huge goal," Krebsbach said. "It really boosted our confidence for the second half."

The Eagles took control midway through the second half with two goals seven minutes apart. Serreyn made it 2-0 with a point-blank range shot past Red Knights goalkeeper Maddie Jobe in the 58th minute, and Allie Emch scored in the 65th minute.

Seniors Ann Cassidy and Paige Taylor -- Totino-Grace coach Jeff Dennehy's rotating goalie system who each play a half -- combined for the shutout. Taylor made four saves in the second half.

"We weren't totally ready when we played them the first time," Serreyn said. "They had a lot of underclassmen and were a new team. We underestimated them."

That wasn't the case in the Metrodome on Monday.

RON HAGGSTROM