Orono senior Anna Tesar has a nickname for her freshman teammate Nora Chouanard: Scora.

"She's so good about being in the right spot and reading where those balls are going to be," Spartans coach Erin Murray said. "I think that her and Tesar have a really good connection on that."

The duo made a connection with seven seconds left in the first half for the team's lone goal in a 1-0 victory over Rochester Lourdes in the Class 1A girls' soccer quarterfinals Wednesday at Farmington High School.

Tesar dribbled the ball around a few Lourdes players, found an open lane and slid the ball along the ground from the corner. Lourdes goalkeeper Paige Gallaugher dived for it but missed. Chouanard was there to put the ball into the open net.

"I just had to tap it in," Chouanard said. "She [Tesar] did a lot of the work."

Before the goal, Murray said, she was thinking about calming her teammates down at halftime, after seeing them play a sloppy, panicky first half.

"Then there's that huge rush of energy," Murray said. "So we wanted them just to be excited and positive."

The lead held up for the 10th consecutive shutout for Orono (17-3-3), which hasn't allowed a goal since a 1-1 tie at Waconia on Sept. 17.

The Spartans have outscored opponents 30-0 in their past 10 games. Senior All-Metro goalkeeper Clare Gagne earned her 14th shutout of the season. She entered the state tournament with a 0.32 goals-against average. The Spartans have allowed only seven goals all season.

The loss for Lourdes (15-4-1) marked their third consecutive defeat in a state quarterfinal.

HEATHER RULE

Mahtomedi 4, Bemidji 1: The two-time defending state champion Zephyrs (14-2-2) used a four-goal blitz in the first half to stop the Lumberjacks (13-6-1) at St. Cloud State.

Three of the Zephyrs' goals came in the final 14 minutes of the first half. Anna Wagner scored twice for the Zephyrs.

Wagner opened the scoring with a goal in the fourth minute and made it 4-0 with a goal in the 40th minute. The Zephyrs also got goals from Abbey Grabow in the 26th minute and Jojie Barry in the 35th minute (on an assist from Wagner).

Bemidji was making its third consecutive and fourth overall appearance in the state tournament. Lexi Paquette's goal in the 48th minute was the first goal in school history for Bemidji in a state tournament game.

In the semifinals Monday at U.S. Bank Stadium, the top-seeded Zephyrs will play the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal between Blake and Waconia.

JOEL RIPPEL