St. Thomas Academy, Eden Prairie, Benilde-St. Margaret's and Prior Lake win in boys' lacrosse state quarterfinals

St. Thomas Academy coach Luke Marks gave his lacrosse team a lesson in persistence before the bus ride Tuesday to Chanhassen High School for the state tournament quarterfinals.

The Cadets watched the goosebumps-inducing video of Heather Dorniden's 2008 Big Ten Indoor Track and Field Championship performance, in which the Gophers' standout comes back to win her 600-meter qualifying heat despite crashing to the track at the start of the final lap.

"I said, 'Something bad is going to happen today, boys, but you can control how you react to it,' " Marks said.

Message received.

State tournament newcomer St. Thomas Academy brushed off a two-goal deficit entering the fourth quarter and prevailed 11-8 against Mahtomedi.

Trailing 8-6 after No. 4-seeded Mahtomedi (11-6) scored the only two goals of the third quarter, the No. 5-seeded Cadets (15-2) tallied five consecutive goals. Luke Williams and Baker Reding each scored twice during the surge.

"We don't give up," Williams said. "That has defined this team all year."

Eden Prairie 14, Lakeville North 10: Lacrosse blends elements of football and basketball, so it's only fitting that the Eagles and Panthers boys met in the state tournament of all three sports this season.

And this time, Eden Prairie avenged losses in the fall and winter.

Familiarity led to a tough, physical game.

"They were some chirps flying around," Eden Prairie senior defender Quentin Matsui said. "They talked about football a little bit and that kind of got me going."

The No. 3-seeded Eagles (14-3) led 8-3 at halftime. Then the Panthers (11-5) took control, tying the game with five straight goals in the third period.

Lakeville North junior midfielder Keaton Mohs and the Eagles' Will Foster each finished with four goals and two assists.

Benilde-St. Margaret's 8, Centennial 4: Frustrated but never flustered, top-seeded and undefeated Benilde-St. Margaret's doubled up the Cougars in shots on goal but needed to come back for the victory.

"The shots weren't going in the whole game, which was unfortunate," junior attack Jack VanOverbeke said. "But we found a way."

Centennial (15-2) held a 2-0 lead early in the second quarter on goals by Jordan Rodriguez and Alexander Brouillet.

The Red Knights (17-0) finally fired back, netting four consecutive goals — two by Matt Dowden — for a 4-2 halftime lead.

Benilde-St. Margaret's pulled ahead 8-3 on fourth-quarter goals from Dowden VanOverbeke just 16 seconds apart.

Prior Lake 12, Wayzata 4: The defending champion Lakers exploded early and never relented. "We've been here before and we know we have to treat every game like it could be our last one," Prior Lake senior defender Brian Kallberg said. "We made sure we came prepared."

The advance work showed as the No. 2 Lakers (14-3) went ahead 7-0 in the second.

Wayzata (7-10), playing in its first state tournament, received back-to-back goals from Andrew Sahli and Cade Ciarocca in the second quarter but got no closer.