Boys lacrosse: Historic season ends with narrow defeat

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When the Rosemount boys lacrosse team played Burnsville last week in the Section 3 semifinals, Irish coach Lance Kuehn was expecting an exciting game.

The two teams delivered a classic playoff, lacrosse game. It just wasn’t quite the finish Kuehn was hoping for.

Seeded No. 1, the Irish lost to No. 4 seed Burnsville 14-13 last week in the section semifinals.

“As far as lacrosse games go it was pretty exciting, back and forth,” Kuehn said. “We had a lead. They had a lead. It was tied. They had a lead. It was pretty exciting. It came down to the end with our final two shots that didn’t hit the net to put it into overtime.”

After a tough opening win in the quarterfinals against Rochester Mayo, Kuehn was worried about aspects of his team’s play. The Irish answered those questions in a spirited contest, but fell short at the end.

The one-and-done nature of the game had both teams playing at a top level.

“Our guys poured their heart and soul into it,” Kuehn said. “We had a ton of effort. They knew if we lost we were done.”

Burnsville eventually won the section title with a 13-11 victory against No. 3 seed Eagan.

“It’s one thing to lose to the eventual section champion,” Kuehn said. “In our section the one through six seeds all beat each other. There wasn’t one dominant team.”

The Irish finished the season with a 13-2 mark, leaving Kuehn to reflect on the positives of another breakout season.

“We’re still top four in the section, top in the conference and top 10 in the state,” Kuehn said. “I have been very proud of the season. I was glad to see all the hard work the boys put in paid off. They had a lot to be proud of.”

Burnsville scored after a late penalty by Rosemount, leading to the late edge.

Kuehn also lamented a decided Blaze advantage in faceoff wins.

“That’s 27 more possessions for them when they win all those faceoffs,” Kuehn said. “It’s tough to win when you don’t win those faceoffs and we had one untimely penalty at the end.”

Grant Van Overbeke scored six goals to lead the Irish.

Matt Weller finished with three goals and two assists. Jake Mortenson also scored three times.

Logan Lindberg had a goal and three assists. Carter Yepsen tallied one assist.

“It was an emotional rollercoaster all the way up and down to the last little bit,” Kuehn said. “It was a tough one.”

Tags: boys lacrosse, sports, rosemount, irish, prep